Domenico Scarlatti is best remembered for the hundreds of single-movement keyboard sonatas he composed for his pupil the Infanta Maria Bárbara, who married the heir to the Spanish throne in 1728, taking her music master with her from Lisbon to Madrid. Scarlatti’s panache and inventiveness is always on show in these compact sonatas, their delicacy and refinement hiding some surprising explorations of unexpected keys, and technical demands such as hand-crossing and chains of sixths and thirds that would have posed some interesting challenges to his clearly talented pupil. Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation. His discography includes Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Fine Arts Quartet and Dvorák’s Piano Trios with the Tempest Trio and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concertos with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. A passionate advocate of music education, recent teaching engagements have included the Steans Institute at Ravinia Festival, The Gilmore Keyboard Festival, and Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW) at Carnegie Hall. Goldstein has performed at prestigious venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Moscow Kremlin, Hollywood Bowl and the Southbank Centre. In 2019 he was inducted into the Society of Scholars of his alma mater, the Johns Hopkins University.

To make Mozart’s Piano Concertos K. 466 and K. 467 more accessible to the public, the 19th c. composer Ignaz Lachner left the piano parts untouched and made splendid string quartet transcriptions of the orchestra parts with added bass. These chamber versions of two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular concertos sound almost as natural as if Mozart had transcribed them himself. Admired for his musical intelligence, dynamic personality, artistic vision and innovative programming, the NY Times called out pianist Alon Goldstein’s “brilliance and imagination” following a recent live recital.

Mozart himself saw the advantages of creating more accessible versions of his concertos in reduced instrumentation. Ignaz Lachner followed common 19th-century practice by leaving the piano parts of these concertos intact and making splendid transcriptions of the orchestra parts using only a string quartet with added bass. K. 488 and K. 491 are two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular piano concertos. These chamber versions throw an intense and intimate new light on familiar music. Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. His career as a soloist has taken him all over the world, working with leading orchestras and conductors. The Fine Arts Quartet ranks among the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive legacy of over 200 recorded works.

These are three of the masterpieces by Mendelssohn. Alon Goldstein is one of the finest young pianists performing today. Yoav Talmi and the Israel Chamber Orchestra deliver superb, committed performances.

DVORÁK Piano Trios Nos. 3 and 4 , “Dumky” • Tempest Tr • NAXOS 8.573279 (73:03)

Every now and then a new recording of an old and over-recorded warhorse comes along to revive one’s long-dead desire to hear yet another performance of it. Even less often does a new recording come along that convinces you on first hearing that the old gray mare may just be the best horse ever to come out of the stable; translation, the most fantastic performance of the greatest piece of music ever written. Such a recording is the one at hand.

If you’ve never heard of the Tempest Trio—I know I hadn’t before receiving this release—that’s because I believe this is the ensemble’s first recording as a group. But you’re sure to recognize the names of these well-established veteran artists, all with their own distinguished solo careers: They are Ilya Kaler, violin; Amit Peled, cello; and Alon Goldstein, piano; and sometime around 2010 they came together to establish the Tempest Trio. After only a few seasons performing as a trio throughout the U.S., Europe, Israel, and Asia, the ensemble has been compared to the legendary “Million Dollar Trio” of Heifetz, Piatigorsky, and Rubinstein.

One can argue the merits of such a comparison, but one can’t argue the results achieved by the Tempest’s players. What immediately grabbed my attention were not just their hair-trigger rhythmic reactions, their technical prowess, their sublimated responsiveness to each other’s phrasing and dynamics, their refulgent tone, and their radiant vibrancy, but also their refreshing take on certain details of interpretation.

For example, in the “Dumky” Trio’s third dumka, there’s a section marked Vivace non troppo , and beginning 33 bars into that section, the violin has a figure in which the last three notes of each bar are two 16ths and an eighth. Only on the first occurrence in that first bar of the passage, however, are the two 16th notes marked with those little spiccato dots in the Simrock first edition. But Kaler applies them throughout the passage, using a ricochet technique to bounce his bow off the string on each occurrence of those two 16th notes. It makes the line stand out like I’ve never heard it before, and it makes for the perfect evocation of Dvorák’s ruddy-faced, slightly tipsy Czech peasants kicking up their heels.

The Tempest Trio even managed to hold my attention all the way through the overlong, somewhat digressive Third Piano Trio in F Minor, a work regarded by some as a milestone in Dvorák’s output. As a result of too many dull performances I’ve heard of the piece, I’d be tempted to call it a millstone. But the Tempest really brings it to life. I’m not quite sure how they do it, but the players manage to enliven the turgid writing in a way that lightens the textures and gives free vent to the melodic flow.

This is a serious candidate for my annual Want List, and I would urge you with special pleading to acquire this release for what may well be the best Dvorák “Dumky” on disc ever. I would also urge Naxos with special pleading to engage the Tempest Trio in recording the whole of the mainstream piano trio literature as soon as possible.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins