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")

 

 

PACM038: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49- Mendelssohn

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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 scherzo are 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
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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

Reviewer: Bill Rosen


Find out more:

 

Third Movement
Scherzo

About Mendelssohn:

BBC Artist Profile
FelixMendelssohn.com
Classical Music Pages

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