PACM038:
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49- Mendelssohn
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Trio
Santoliquido:
Ornella
Puliti Santoliquido, piano
Arrigo
Pelliccia, violin
Massimo
Amfitheatrof, cello
Recorded
in c.1955, issued as Deustche Grammophon 16107 LP
Download ID: 223712,434945
(Duration
29'11")
Play
sample movement:
Introduction:
Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany on 3rd February, 1809 into
a distinguished and afflluent family of bankers, intellectuals and artists.
A child prodigy, he produced his first composition in 1820; a constant
stream of work continued throughout his relatively short life - he died
in Leipzig on 4th November, 1847 at the age of just 38. These notes, which
accompany Pristine Audio's Mendelssohn Edition, released to mark the 160th
anniversary of his oratio Elijah,
our first award-winning release for Divine Art, follow Mendelssohn's life
through eight compositions newly remastered for August 2006.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - Part 5 of 8
Music composed 1839
Still firmly
installed in Leipzig, this first of Mendelssohn's two mature Piano Trios
(there was a very early Piano Trio written in childhood) was completed
in July, 1839, and given its first performance in the autumn concert season
there in an otherwise relatively quiet year for composition (an overture,
some organ fugues, partsongs and a psalm setting also date from 1839).
The first
Trio was an instant success - vigorous and tuneful, it is, in the words
of Philip Radcliffe: "very grateful to play"; if at times
the material is not quite strong enough for its treatment in the outer
movements, the andante and scherzoare both particularly
effective - the latter positively sparkles.
Mendelssohn
returned to the form six years later, and perhaps his second Piano Trio
has the slight edge over the first overall; nevertheless both are particularly
attractive pieces.
The rather
wonderful recording offered here was made by Trio Santoliquido,
whose superb recordings of three Beethoven Piano Trios were among the
first set of releases (alongside Mendelssohn's Elijah) remastered
in 2005 for Divine Art by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio - full details
of that CD (DA 27803) can be found here.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - on to part
6
Back to start
REVIEW
OF:
Mendelssohn: Trio #1 in D Minor (Santoliquido
Trio) (1955); Trio #2 in C Minor (Zilcher Trio) (1930); Violin
Sonata in F (1838) (Menuhin, Moore) (1953)
These
are three very fine works that give the lie to the view that
Mendelssohn was "played out" in his later years.
It is true that many of the later compositions (the later
Songs Without Words, the Organ Sonatas, etc.) are not first
class compositions. They are plagued by Mendelssohn's fatal
fluency, his thinking with his fingers and not with his head
and heart. These three works are almost entirely free of that.
The
Trio #1 in D Minor is a mostly superb work and has
greatly outshone its sister trio (#2) in popularity if not
quality. Much of its popularity is due to the magnificently
sweeping opening cello theme of the first movement. It is
ironic that the piano part, which has, it seems, thousands
of arpeggios, never really gets to play a primary role. It's
constant motion moves things forward without saying anything
on its own. Under lesser pianists, its endless chattering
can become tiresome. Not so under the Santoliquido Trio. They
open the work rather more slowly and somberly than usual,
but soon rise to powerful climaxes. To make up for the first
movement, the piano takes the lead in all three splendid remaining
movements with the Santoliquido playing the third movement
with great panache. One notices that wonderful integration
of the playing in this trio, usually only a characteristic
of ensembles that have been together a long time. The trio
was formed in Rome in 1942, made a few very fine records,
but never achieved the international prominence they deserved.
The sound is entirely worthy of the performance-clean, noisefree
and rich.
The
Pristine Audio editor has suggested that the Trio #2 in
C Minor, the neglected younger sister of the D Minor,
may actually be a finer work. Though it has no such sweeping
melody as the opening of #1, its material is actually richer
and bolder and the working out is often more imaginative.
The first movement opens with the piano giving out a restless
and really minorish theme. A triumphant theme in the major
follows. The development is ingenious in manipulating the
themes. The coda is wonderful, inspired, touching. The second
movement does not match the first in quality, sounding an
extended song without words although played with great feeling
by the Zilcher Trio. The third movement is another Mendlssohnian
exercise with fairies and elves and the Zilcher give a quicksilver
lightness to it. The finale really sounds like a finale with
emphatic themes and a sense of real completion at the end.
The Zilcher Trio is new to me and they are a superb ensemble.
I am quite thrilled with the playing of the trio. Pristine
Audio has reprocessed the 1930 sound so that it has plenty
of bite and warmth.
The
Violin Sonata (1838) is almost unknown, but deserves
to be ranked with the three Schumann sonatas, though not with
the Brahms' works. The first movement begins with a stalwart
Mendelssohnian pronouncement (meant to be powerful but not
completely convincing) and continues with a yielding second
theme. The development begins on a soft note but does a good
job of dissecting the opening theme.
There
is a brilliant and extended coda which Menuhin plays very
well. The second movement presents a pensive theme on the
piano, beautifully restated on the violin which then modules
to a second theme. There is considerable agitation in the
middle part. A rapid, moto perpetuo finale which never stops
spinning finishes the sonata. Menuhin and Moore do excellent
justice to this this work which deserves to be better known.
The sound is clear and, for my taste, unexceptionable.
It
has been a real privilege to rehear these Mendelssohn's chamber
works, particularly to gain a greater appreciation of the
Trio #2
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