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C. Schumann & Clarke: Piano Trios / Trio Rigamonti
Brilliant Classics

C. Schumann & Clarke: Piano Trios / Trio Rigamonti

$12.99

Details

Composer
Rebecca Helferich Clarke, Clara Schumann
Artist
Mariella Rigamonti, Emanuele Rigamonti, Miriam Rigamonti
Format
CD
Discs
1
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
Mar 15, 2024
Catalog #
BRI96861
UPC
5028421968612

About

This pair of piano trios has become recognized in recent years as among the finest works by their composers, and they make a complementary pairing despite their contrasting idioms. This new recording also makes a fine showcase for a trio of Italian siblings who have won many prizes in chamber-music competitions and give recitals across Italy as Trio Rigamonti.

Completed in 1846, the G minor Piano Trio of Clara Schumann thus postdates her early piano pieces by decades, and is accordingly a much more mature and accomplished work. She handles the piano-trio dynamic with great skill, balancing her piano part against the strings with sensitivity, and the whole piece is shot through with a pathos that bears comparison with contemporary works by both her husband and her friend Brahms.

While there is no shortage of light and shade to the second theme of the first movement and the playful central Scherzo, the expressive pull of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio draws the listener towards the piano’s deeply felt introduction to the slow movement, which achieves remarkable pathos within its relatively brief duration. The turbulent finale skilfully balances the scale of the first movement, and the whole piece ranks among the most satisfying of 19th-century piano trios.

Its counterpart in the early years of the 20th century, hardly less rewarding a contribution to the piano-trio literature than contemporary works by Ravel and Rachmaninoff, is the Piano Trio composed in 1921 by Rebecca Clarke. The angst of Clara’s finale is answered and intensified by a gripping confrontation at the start of Clarke’s Trio, which does not so much subside as simmer throughout the first movement. The central Andante flows like a free-running brook and yet is achingly lyrical, before the Allegro vigoroso finale spins the listener through a whirling kaleidoscope of music past and future. These trios make a natural pairing in concert and on record and yet they are still too rarely heard, but Trio Rigamonti are passionate advocates.

Tracklist 7 tracks

  1. 1 I. Allegro moderato 11:18
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro moderato
    Duration
    11:18
    Composer
    Clara Schumann
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  2. 2 II. Scherzo: Tempo di menuetto 05:10
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Scherzo: Tempo di menuetto
    Duration
    05:10
    Composer
    Clara Schumann
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  3. 3 III. Andante 05:15
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Andante
    Duration
    05:15
    Composer
    Clara Schumann
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  4. 4 IV. Allegretto 08:01
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Allegretto
    Duration
    08:01
    Composer
    Clara Schumann
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  5. 5 I. Moderato ma appassionato 09:54
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Moderato ma appassionato
    Duration
    09:54
    Composer
    Rebecca Clarke
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  6. 6 II. Andante molto semplice 06:51
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Andante molto semplice
    Duration
    06:51
    Composer
    Rebecca Clarke
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti
  7. 7 III. Allegro vigoroso 08:44
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Allegro vigoroso
    Duration
    08:44
    Composer
    Rebecca Clarke
    Ensemble
    Trio Rigamonti