COMPOSERS: Mendelssohn
LABELS: PentaTone
ALBUM TITLE: Mendelssohn
WORKS: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49; Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
PERFORMER: Julia Fischer (violin), Daniel Müller-Schott (cello), Johathon Gilad (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 5186 085
It’s good to hear these great works
played with full ardour by such a
talented group of young musicians.
In these players’ hands the fiery
opening Allegro of the D minor
Trio is impassioned without
ever sounding garbled, and with
something sensibly left in reserve
for the more animated coda; while
the scherzo is every bit as fleeting
and light as it ought to be. In the less
familiar, though in no sense inferior,
C minor companion-piece it’s
possible to feel that the rather slow
tempo they adopt for the Andante
runs the risk of sentimentalising
the music, but the playing itself is
so accomplished that it would be
churlish to complain. However, the
piano trio is a notoriously difficult
medium to balance successfully,
and Pentatone’s recording sounds
constricted, with the piano’s ‘spot’
microphone clearly in evidence; and
perhaps it’s partly for this reason
that the scherzo of the Op. 66 Trio is
never quite as delicate as it should be.
For the finest recorded sound, try
the Florestan Trio, whose scherzos are
as transparent as you could wish. As a
single-disc alternative, this Hyperion
version is confidently recommended,
but the 1980s recordings by the
Beaux Arts Trio bring a touch more
intensity to the Allegros and more
depth to the slow movements. The
feeling of spring-coil tension the
Beaux Arts convey in the opening
movement of the C minor Trio is
unmatched by its rivals. Misha Donat