Notes and Editorial Reviews
DVO?ÁK
Piano Trio No. 4,
“Dumky.”
SMETANA
Piano Trio in g
•
Carlo van Neste Tr
•
PAVANE 7521 (59:20)
This completely unprepossessing disc, very plainly packaged and presented
sans
hype, burst forth from my stereo speakers with uncommon breadth, power, verve, and commitment. There are some discs of which I write very little because they are not good. This is one
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of which I can only write very little because there is nothing to criticize. Not the music, the performance, or the sound; and indeed, it seems all of a piece. The sonics are not the least bit resonant, yet they are not dry or brittle either. This trio is right there in your living room; the disc does not seem to exist. Uncanny is the best way I can describe it.
The music is extraordinary, eloquent, deeply felt, and never predictable. Even in the first three movements of the Dvo?ák, marked Lento maestoso, Poco adagio, and Andante, there are surprising outbursts of gaiety, and the slow passages have real depth. They do not sound like fillers. These movements are connected, which creates a wonderful stream-of-consciousness feeling; by the time you reach the Allegro, you know you have been on a journey of extraordinary quality. This is Dvo?ák at his deepest and least populist, at least the way this extraordinary trio plays it.
Not only is their musical conception very mature, their sheer sound is rich and massive without being weighty. I had to keep looking at their photographs to remind myself that these were musicians in their twenties; the depth of feeling they impart to each and every note has the exact feeling of truth.
Smetana’s Piano Trio, deeper in meaning, receives an even deeper interpretation from the trio. They’re careful not to overplay the pathos, which pleased me very much. This trio was written as a very personal obituary for his four-year-old daughter Bed?iška. It’s not a slow lament, like Mahler’s
Kindertotenlieder,
but sadness mixed with rage, distraction, and a feeling of helplessness. Do not listen to this trio if you are feeling at all melancholy; or perhaps, yes, listen to the first movement as a way of using rage as a way of fighting off despair. The Carlo van Neste Trio’s performance is perfect in every respect, the warm yet crystal-clear sonics enveloping the listener in a warm bath of tonal luxury. This type of piece justifies the entire Romantic era; like Beethoven’s last quartets, it is human emotion made music.
Fanfare
wants us to compare discs we review to competing versions. A record such as this makes you wonder why. There are 40 other listings for the Dvo?ák, including justly famous versions by the Suk Trio (Supraphon) and Beaux Arts Trio (Philips) in sets of his complete trios. Are they less good? Are they better? I like them too, but this offering in its own way is certainly their equal. I found 16 other recordings of the Smetana. The Oistrakh Trio (Preiser) does a great job, though in older sound; the Guarneri Trio (Supraphon) plays with more brio in the last movement but a shade less pathos, and the Borodin Trio plays well—the exact same two trios, by the way, in the same order—though it has to fight through Chandos sound. I was so completely absorbed in this disc that for nearly an hour the entire world, let alone competing versions, was shut out of my mind. A perfect record.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
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Works on This Recording
1.
Trio for Piano and Strings no 4 in E minor, Op. 90/B 166 "Dumky" by Antonín Dvorák
Performer:
Sebastien Lienhart (Piano),
Noe Inui (Violin),
Alexandre Debrus (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Carlo Van Neste Trio
Period: Romantic
Written: 1890-1891; Bohemia
2.
Trio for Piano and Strings in G minor, Op. 15 by Bedrich Smetana
Performer:
Sebastien Lienhart (Piano),
Noe Inui (Violin),
Alexandre Debrus (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Carlo Van Neste Trio
Period: Romantic
Written: 1855; Czech Republic
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