Composer: David Matthews
Performer: Gemma Rosefield, Leonore Piano Trio
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0369
Release: 2017
Size: 1.17 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 34
01. I. Lento – Allegro moderato
02. II. Allegretto: Drily humorous
03. III. Adagio
04. IV. Molto moderato
Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 61
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Adagio
07. III. Scherzo: Molto allegro
08. IV. Allegro moderato – Andante con moto – Presto
Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 97
09. I. Con vivacità
10. II. Andante moderato
Journeying Songs, Op. 95
11. I. Song for Judith: Robusto
12. II. Song for Elaine: Poco lento e quieto
13. III. Song for Gemma: Andante trasognato – Allegro appassionato
David Matthews (b. 1943) has become one of the UK’s leading composers, both of symphonic and chamber music. One US reviewer described his string quartets as ‘musical thinking of the highest order and quartet writing in the great tradition of Beethoven, Bartók, Britten, and Tippett’ – influences that Matthews readily acknowledges.
These three piano trios evoke two other masters, since they have something of the drama of Shostakovich and the lyrical intensity of Vaughan Williams.
All these elements are drawn together in Matthews’ own voice to make these works some of the most moving chamber music of recent years, in performances that the composer considers exemplary.
England’s Toccata Classics label has issued several albums devoted to contemporary composer David Matthews, and this one makes a fine starting place if you’re curious. Those perusing the graphics will find comparisons with Beethoven, Bartók, Britten, Michael Tippett, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, and, if you delve a bit deeper, Schoenberg and Mahler. It sounds preposterous to say that these influences could be combined, but that’s where the appeal of this music lies. The three piano trios, from 1983, 1993, and 2005, match their traditionalist medium with clear sonata forms and generally tonal orientation. Yet the music is not neoclassic in effect. Broadly, you’ll hear vernacular rhythms that remind one of Bartók; the rigorous polyphony of Tippett; the well-made, direct appeal of Britten; big tunes — good ones — that alternately bring to mind Shostakovich or Vaughan Williams; deep chromatic harmony that seems at times to hark back directly to early Schoenberg; and, in the languorously transcendent finales, a bit of Mahler, at least as much as a piano trio can be like Mahler. Everything’s familiar, but the sum total of the elements is like nothing you’ve heard before. The three Journeying Songs, Op. 95, for solo cello are attractively written for the instrument and played by Leonore Piano Trio cellist Gemma Rosefield, but the weaving of disparate elements in these works is not so colorful. The piano trios are remarkable works, however, and the performances spot-on. The engineering, in an unspecified location, is all that could be desired, and the notes by the composer are well worth your time.