Classical Music: Mendelssohn – Piano Trios

Mendelssohn – Piano Trios

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49; Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66; Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49: II. Andante con moto tranquillo

Joshua Bell – Violin
Steven Isserlis – Cello
Jeremy Denk – Piano

Sony Classical 19802832482
https://www.sonyclassical.com/


Take two exceptionally fine piano trios and a troika of outstanding performers - Jeremy Denk, Joshua Bell, and Steven Isserlis - and you have a disc of outstanding musicianship.

Each player blends perfectly, akin to a finely tuned engine, with each part precisely aligned. The dynamics are also delicate and refined, yet when the trio presses the accelerator for power, they excel. Denk provides faultless accompaniment.

The tone of each instrument is beautifully portrayed, especially Isserlis’ resonant cello, and Bell’s intimate and passionate reading of both works combine well with Denk’s expressive touch as the trio shapes wonderful phrasing.

Denk's virtuoso fingerwork, at times animated, demonstrates his meticulousness with remarkable attention to detail.

In his liner notes for the new recording, Isserlis quotes Robert Schumann’s belief—written shortly after the premiere of his friend’s Piano Trio No. 1 — that "Mendelssohn... has soared so high that we may venture to say that he is the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the brightest among musicians, the one who looks most clearly of all through the contradictions of the time and reconciles us to them.”
 
Interestingly, the composition of the first trio tested Mendelssohn's genius, just as the second would.
 
With that in mind, listeners to this recording will find a revelatory bonus track — the original version of the song-like second movement (Andante con moto tranquillo) of Piano Trio No.1.
 
"Of course, Mendelssohn had excellent reasons for his revisions,” Isserlis writes in the liner notes, “including the addition of the deeply expressive middle section; but there are a few touches in the original version that have a delightful freshness to them — which is why we decided to include it as an extra track on this disc. Here I would like to offer thanks to the Israeli pianist Ron Regev, whose fascinating article about the two versions and painstaking transcription of the original made this possible. "
 
There is a lot to praise, and fans of the three musicians will not be disappointed. Exceptionally fine chamber music.