Seen and Heard Recital
Review
Schubert Trio Fontenay
(Michael Mucke, violin; Jens Peter Mainz, cello; Wolf Harden, piano),
Wigmore Hall, 1pm, Monday, February 14th 2005 (CC)
Schubert’s Second Piano Trio (E flat, D929, 1827) operates
on a huge scale. It lasts around 50 minutes, is cast in four movements
and really gives any piano trio the chance to show off its interpretative
skills. Contemporaneous with Winterreise, there is the same feeling
of a Master at work.
The Trio Fontenay, founded in 1980 (with one change of membership
since – the cellist) is an excellent, young, ensemble. The
Trio’s way with Schubert is such that the movement of one
theme to the next in the first movement of D929 seemed entirely
inevitable. The open spaces of the development (where sparse scoring
makes for memorable listening) enabled the audience to enter an
almost timeless world.
The theme of the slow movement is allegedly based on a Swedish
folk melody. Jens Peter Mainz’s superbly lyrical, warm cello
impressed here, as did the violin/cello dialogues. Moments of
uncertainty after the involving climax, however, were unsettling
in all the wrong ways, even if the concentrated lead-in to the
coda all but erased memories of the slip.
The Trio Fontenay was fully at home in the delightful canons of
the Scherzando third movement (a movement that lies somewhere
between Minuet and Scherzo), while the tricky repeated-notes of
the finale’s second theme posed no technical problems (pianist
Wolf Harden being particularly impressive here, seemingly trying
to invoke a cimbalom). The return of the slow movement’s
theme was hugely effective.
A brave choice of repertoire, then. D929 requires high concentration
from both players and audience, something not always readily available
on a Monday lunchtime. That the performance was so successful
is a tribute to the Trio Fontenay’s talent. I will be keeping
an eye out for this ensemble in future.
Colin Clarke
Further listening:
Florestan Trio. Hyperion CDA67347
Trio Fontenay: Smetana & Chopin Piano Trios,
Warner Apex 0907 40822-2; Beethoven Opp. 1 & 11, Warner Apex
2564 60364-2
