Composer: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Arno Babadzhanian, Alfred Schnittke
Performer: Vadim Gluzman, Johannes Moser, Yevgeny Sudbin
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Bis
Release: 2019
Size: 1.24 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky:
Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 ‘In Memory of a Great Artist’
01. I. Pezzo elegiaco
02. II. Tema. Andante con moto
03. IIa. Var. 1
04. IIb. Var. 2 – Più mosso
05. IIc. Var. 3 – Allegro moderato
06. IId. Var. 4 – L’istesso tempo
07. IIe. Var. 5 – L’istesso tempo
08. IIf. Var. 6 – Tempo di valse
09. IIg. Var. 7 – Allegro moderato
10. IIh. Var. 8 – Fuga. Allegro moderato
11. IIi. Var. 9 – Andante flebile, ma non tanto
12. IIj. Var. 10 – Tempo di mazurka. Con brio
13. IIk. Var. 11 – Moderato
14. IIl. Var. 12 – Coda
Arno Babadzhanian:
Trio for violin, cello & piano in F-sharp minor
15. I. Largo – Allegro espressivo
16. II. Andante
17. III. Allegro vivace
Alfred Schnittke:
18. Tango (from Life with an Idiot)
In Russia, the piano trio is the most prestigious format for the musical homage. It lends a work an elegiac character, which is often made clear in the movement’s title or indications. The Trio in A Minor, Op. 50 pours itself out in a generous Pezzo elegiaco, a passionate meeting of cello and violin. There follow a succession of deliciously inventive variations on a folk theme, appearing one after another like so many matrioshkas. The performers (Vadim Gluzman on violin, Johannes Moser on cello and Yevgeny Sudbin on piano) are at home with this music, which they play with a hot intensity. In the fifth variation, the piano finds sounds which we love, with a sober accompaniment of sustained pedal notes on strings. The musicians dig a little further into this deliciously nostalgic mood with the Trio in F Sharp Minor by Arno Babadjanian. This latter moulds the sound with magnificent grandiloquence. Its lyricism, with folk accents, speaks in a Romantic language, in a taut harmonic environment. We’re holding our breath up until Tango by Alfred Schnittke, arranged for the occasion of this recording for the label Bis by Yevgeny Sudbin. Here, the nostalgia reaches its zenith. But the performers can’t weaken on this piece that demands musicians be at once supple – it is a dance, after all – and robust. And these are qualities shared by all these artists, including Vadim Gluzman, with a charm worthy of David Oïstrakh, the first performer of the Babadjanian’s Trio.