PACM027: Piano Trio No 1 in B flat (D898) - Schubert

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Jean Fournier, Antonio Janigro, Paul Badura-Skoda Released in 1953 as Westminster LP 51-88 Download ID: 194447/395696 (Duration 35'17")

Play sample movement:

Sounds like a live performance. Play to the end and tell me you couldn’t imagine it being followed by rapturous applause... - Dominy Clements, Musicweb International review

The trio of Fournier, Janigro and Badura-Skoda made a number of excellent recordings for New York-based Westminster Recordings in the 1950s, which we're delighted to revisit here at Pristine Audio Direct, thanks to the efforts of vinyl restoration wizard, Peter Harrison.

By comparison to the Cortot-Thibaud-Casals recording of Schubert's first Piano Trio (PASC021), here the work can, perhaps with the luxury of vinyl side durations, breathe a little more easy. However, don't be fooled by the difference in durations between the two - although this recording does take each movement more slowly, it is largely thanks to a major cut in the third movement that the earlier recording comes in nearly five minutes shorter.

It is this more expansive side of their playing that we've chosen to highlight here with the the slow, 2nd movement available for free download. While there is little doubt of the feeling in Casal's cello entry from the 1926 recording, here Janigro appears to almost pour the notes from his cello, and that extra time allocated to the movement allows him just a little more expressiveness.

(Note that the poor tape edit heard at approx. 3'43" is as originally issued.)

Restorer Peter Harrison writes of this recording:

Take a new LP. Play it - just once - with a badly worn stylus or badly setup cartridge, and what have you? - A worn record, with a sound that most likely has permanent distortion.

Working with disks from the early '50s (as I do a lot) this problem occurs much more often than you might think. I'd say anything up to one third of all such LPs show signs of distortion caused by wear. If the disk has been acquired on eBay, the seller may have - in all innocence - described it as "near mint" since unlike a scratch nothing's visible: even a spot check playing the disk may not reveal the fault since the distortion may only be present in some regions, or in the very loudest passages.

Last year, longtime customers may recall, we reissued a batch of wonderful performances by the Quartetto Chigiano ("the Chigi Quartet") from around 1950. One that we'd hoped to include was their recording of the Dvorak Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81. I have two pressings of the disk: I was hopeful of success. It wasn't to be. Both had distortion in just the way I've described, it couldn't be fixed, and I judged them unacceptable for release. Back they went into the archives, and the long search (which is still in progress) for another copy began. Sigh.

What has that to do with the May, 2006 releases? This. We've begun this month re-releasing another 'collection' of recordings, this time by Messrs. Fournier, Janigro, and Badura-Skoda. In one of this month's batch - the Schubert - you can (though only occasionally) make out the telltale signature of the worn disk. Should I have held it back, like the Dvorak? It wasn't an easy decision.

On the one hand, the quality I aim for wasn't going to be possible throughout. On the other the disk itself is a rarity and another copy not available; the performance magnificent (double-starred by The Record Guide, Myers & Hill evaluate ten out of eleven contemporary reviews as 'Excellent'); and the disk is, after all, curate's egg-like, very good in patches. I decided to let it go.

In an ideal world we'd always give you the perfect restoration. In the real world time and misuse take their toll. I'm constantly amazed by how many of these disks - in this case fifty-three years old - have survived with so little loss. And what performances! Ah, that second movement! Enjoy!

Find out more:   Piano Trio in B flat 2nd mvt - Andante un poco mosso About Schubert: BBC Artist Profile The Classical Music Pages The Schubert Institute (UK) CD covers to print:   CD-writing cuesheet: [What's that?] Download our Illustrated Catalogue Complete catalogue of recordings, fully indexed by composer and performer, with links to website pages Restoration by Peter Harrison:

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