David Piano Trios
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Félicien(-César) David
Label: Marco Polo
Magazine Review Date: 5/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 223492
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (3) Piano Trios, Movement: D minor |
Félicien(-César) David, Composer
Eszter Perényi, Violin Félicien(-César) David, Composer Ilona Prunyi, Piano Tibor Párkányi, Cello |
| (3) Piano Trios, Movement: C minor |
Félicien(-César) David, Composer
Eszter Perényi, Violin Félicien(-César) David, Composer Ilona Prunyi, Piano Tibor Párkányi, Cello |
Author: John Warrack
Felicien David remains best known for Le desert, written in the wake of the disastrous Eastern expedition of the Saint-Simonians for whom he had become virtually laureate composer. The whole story is well told in Ralph P. Locke's fascinating study Music, Musicians and the Saint-Simonians (Chicago: 1986). Its frontispiece shows David in Saint-Simonian costume, bearded, shaggy-locked, wearing the somewhat soft expression that earned him the description by his fellows as doux et charmant.
Mild and charming these late piano trios indeed are, showing no sign of the Orientalisms which David put into French romantic currency but responding freshly and sensitively to the music he had loved as a young man. There is much of middle-period Beethoven here, more of Schubert, some touches of Weber (as in the finale of the D minor Trio). The manner is rather less eclectic than this sounds, for David had a distinct melodic gift. The long opening movement of the C minor Trio discourses an elegant, flowing pair of themes which David handles gracefully rather than forcefully. It is music to speak to the sensibilities, not to arouse passions or engage the mind too rigorously. The scherzo finale of the D minor Trio is a likeable idea: coming after a lyrical Adagio, it produces a fresh, stimulating end to a friendly work. Both trios are attractively played, even if ensemble is not always immaculate, and the recordings are clear and well balanced.'
Mild and charming these late piano trios indeed are, showing no sign of the Orientalisms which David put into French romantic currency but responding freshly and sensitively to the music he had loved as a young man. There is much of middle-period Beethoven here, more of Schubert, some touches of Weber (as in the finale of the D minor Trio). The manner is rather less eclectic than this sounds, for David had a distinct melodic gift. The long opening movement of the C minor Trio discourses an elegant, flowing pair of themes which David handles gracefully rather than forcefully. It is music to speak to the sensibilities, not to arouse passions or engage the mind too rigorously. The scherzo finale of the D minor Trio is a likeable idea: coming after a lyrical Adagio, it produces a fresh, stimulating end to a friendly work. Both trios are attractively played, even if ensemble is not always immaculate, and the recordings are clear and well balanced.'
David Piano Trios
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