Although he is best known for his film scores and The Godfather in particular, Nino Rota’s concert music combines traditional tonality and forms with characteristically heartfelt melodies and appealing clarity. Contrasts abound in this selection of chamber works, from bassoon buffoonery in the Toccata to the Brahmsian eloquence of the Clarinet Sonata, and from the dramatic Improvviso and melancholy moods of the recently discovered Fantasia, to the jocular instrumental exchanges in the exquisite Trio.

Spanning 6 CDs and featuring many a consummate performance, this release celebrates the genius of Schubert through detailing all of his late chamber music. The compilation begins with the two piano trios, works of immense virtuosity whose fluent melodies betray the composer's affinity for song. Moving on to the quartets, we encounter expressive depth, melancholy and drama; while the Quartettsatz movement in C minor displays all the hallmarks of Schubert's late style - including dark lyricism and shifting chromaticism - D810 'Der Tod und das M�dchen' takes the idea of tragedy to a whole new level, it's second movement's melody lifted directly from the identically titled song. The String Quintet follows, a work written just two months before Schubert's death and which replaces the conventional second viola part with that of a cello. Last, but by no means least, the Octet; composed in 1826, this piece was conceived in a response to a commission by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer. Recorded 1995-2009. In his last years (though he was only in his late twenties...) Schubert achieved a unique musical form in which structure and content fuse into an inseparable unity. His later works present a soul in anguish, darkness and light alternate, terror and happiness go hand in hand. The three late string quartets (counting among the best and most famous quartets ever written), the two piano trios, the string quintet of heavenly proportions and the octet all reveal grand musical structures, laden with a depth of feeling which belies the comparative youth of the composer. Excellent performances from the Klaviertrio Amsterdam (Spanish classical magazine Scherzo: "The best recording available"), the German Brandis Quartet and the famous Berlin Philharmonic Octet.

This is volume 2 of the complete Haydn Piano Trios, performed by The Mendelssohn Piano Trio. This rarely recorded repertoire is part of an ongoing project to record all of Haydn’s Piano Trios.

Classical Music

SCHUMANN Piano Trio No. 2 in F, Op. 80. Kinderszenen , Op.15 1. Piano Quartet in E?, Op.47 2 • Benvenue Fp Tr; 1 Eric Zivian (fp); 2 Adam LaMotte (va) • AVIE 2272 (71:07)


In the second movement of the Piano Trio on this disc, violinist Monica Huggett does something remarkable for this modern age: She plays downward portamentos in her phrasing of the musical line. They are not as broadly accented as the portamentos one heard from Bronislaw Huberman, but they are a bit broader than those used by Emanuel Feuermann in the late 1930s and early ’40s. What this tells me is that Huggett, who prides herself on being a historically informed performer of classical music from two centuries (18th and 19th), is fully aware that portamento was used as an expressive device in this music, and that to eliminate it is incorrect. More to the point, the performance of the trio as a whole evinces a systemic approach to the music. One can also hear upward portamento in Huggett’s solo lines in the first movement of this trio. By leading the way stylistically, she encourages moments of rubato, sharp attacks and releases in the dramatic passages, and an overall feeling of involvement that is rare among many such groups nowadays.


Moreover, the trio’s choice of instruments also reflects an enlightened view of the music. No half-harpsichord-sounding fortepiano is involved here, but an instrument built by Franz Rausch in 1841. Huggett’s instrument is the oldest, being a violin of the Dutch Cuypers School c. 1770, while Tanya Tomkins’s cello was made by Joseph Panormo in London in 1811. Using instruments close in style to those used by Schumann makes an enormous difference. There is, in fact, very little difference in sound (though a less powerful sustain) between Eric Zivian’s fortepiano and a more modern instrument, and this added richness gives more body to the music. The incredible realism of the recorded sound (the microphones used are not identified, but the venue was Old St. Hilary’s Church in Tiburon, California) also assists greatly in both presence and in giving some natural “air” around the instruments.


Rather surprisingly, considering his superb attention to detail and his style which allows for several little rubato touches, I found Zivian’s interpretation of Kinderszenen somewhat less convincing. I’m not sure, in this case, if the fortepiano was recorded a bit too closely, lending a somewhat overloud aspect to certain movements, but in any case I didn’t feel that he captured the remarkable ambiance that one feels, for instance, in the performance by Clara Haskil. Listen, for example, to the famous “Träumerai”: tempo and phrasing are exactly right, but somehow the feeling is wrong—just a bit too “klunky.” (It could be that, in this case, the instrument’s lack of a larger frame and greater sustaining ability is to blame, rather than the player.)


Despite this slight disappointment, when they reach the Piano Quartet in E? (with guest violist LaMotte), they again play with that rare combination of elasticity and emotional involvement. Listening carefully, I think I know why the fortepiano sounds better in ensemble: The cello’s rich tone compensates somewhat for the slightly leaner, less sustained tone of the keyboard. But whatever the reason, there is no question but that both mood and structure never sound forced but, rather, “evolve” in the listening process. You almost feel privileged to be listening in on a performance this good. No matter when you play this disc, whether alone in the evening or with friends in the afternoon, you’ll be completely taken in and involved in the Benvenue Trio’s music-making. It is as if these musicians are not the ones communicating with you, but Robert Schumann himself.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Classical Music

Classical Music

Schubert: Klaviertrios

Classical Music

News of the death of Nikolai Rubinstein came as a great blow for Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky decided to dedicate a piece of music to his late friend - not a classical work for choir or orchestra but one for piano trio. The memory of Rubinstein evidently enraptured him to the extent that he burst all dimensions with his his monumental Trio Op. 50, which encompasses all range of emotion and presents a musical and technical challenge to any piano trio. The Swiss Piano Trio, founded in 1998 with Martin Lucas Staub (piano), Angela Golubeva (violin) and Sebastien Singer (cello) has won numerous prizes at international competitions, including the International Chamber Music Competition Caltanissetta in Italy and the Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria.

Classical Music

In a new collaboration with ensemble Trio Ex Aequo, this release which features Beethoven’s piano trios, is the first in a series of three. Matthias Moosdorf is the cellist of the Leipzig String Quartet, one of the world’s premier quartets. He has performed with the quartet in more than 60 countries on all continents and can be heard in over 80 prize-winning CD recordings. He has won four Echo-Klassik awards.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The superb Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is heard in all of Schubert's music for Piano Trio- the two great masterpieces (the B-flat and E-flat Trios), as well as the rarely played "Sonatensatz" and Notturno. In addition, Sharon Robinson and Joseph Kalichstein perform the lovely "Arpeggione" Sonata. This specially priced release includes notes by Schubert specialist, Malcolm MacDonald.