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

Reviewer: Bill Rosen

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