Composer: Richard Birchall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, David Knotts, Caroline Shaw, Igor Stravinsky
Performer: Minerva Piano Trio, Annie Yim, Michał Ćwiżewicz, Richard Birchall
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Somm
Catalogue: SOMMCD0658
Release: 2022
Size: 2.36 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite, K034b (Arr. R. Birchall for Piano Trio)
01. I. Sinfonia
02. II. Serenata
03. III. Scherzino
04. IV. Tarantella
05. V. Toccata
06. VI. Gavotta
07. VII. Vivo
08. VIII. Minuetto
Birchall: Contours
09. I. Moderate
10. II. Fast
11. III. Nocturne – Adagio
12. IV. Fast Waltz
13. Shaw: Gustave Le Gray (Arr. A. Yim for Piano Trio)
Frances-Hoad: My Fleeting Angel
14. I. Larghetto
15. II. Allegro spiritoso e scherzando
16. III. Allegretto eleganza
Knotts: Scenes from “Daphnis et Chloé” (After Ravel’s M. 57)
17. I. Nocturne
18. II. Pantomime
19. III. Danse guerrière
Formed in 2013 and acclaimed for their “immaculate technique… high degree of maturity, concentration, commitment and energy” by Classical Source, the Minerva Piano Trio – pianist Annie Yim, violinist Michał Ćwiżewicz, and cellist Richard Birchall – has earned glowing plaudits from audiences and critics alike, Arcana FM marking them as “an ensemble which is clearly going places”, Classical Source declaring “how lucky modern-day composers are to have such expert and sympathetic advocates”, The Times praising them for “the most beautiful sounds”.
“Dance!” features two ballet pieces by Stravinsky and Ravel, the former’s Pulcinella Suite arranged by the Minerva’s Richard Birchall, the latter’s Daphnis et Chloé heard in David Knott’s arrangement of three scenes that, says the Trio’s Annie Yim, illustrate “the discovery of love: innocence, awakening, touch, and passion”. Both arrangements are receiving first recordings.
Also making their debuts on disc are Birchall’s own Contours, described by Caroline Potter in her informative booklet notes as exploring “the notion and elastic meaning of its title in different ways”, and, in Annie Yim’s arrangement, Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Gray. Rooted in a Chopin Mazurka, it eloquently mimics its artist namesake’s facility for poetically layered voices and images.
Completing the recital is Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s My Fleeting Angel. Inspired by a short story about the dour, deadening domesticity of married life by the poet Sylvia Plath, Potter likens both composer and piece to Olivier Messiaen, hailing the work’s “logic and appealing sound world of its own” and Frances-Hoad as “a sound-colour synaesthete who associates specific colours with sounds”.