Born on the French-Prussian border, Théodore
Gouvy is one of those figures who grew up with a dual French and German
cultural heritage. Highly regarded in his time by figures such as Brahms,
Reinecke and Joachim, Gouvy made more of an impression in Germany, while
Berlioz despaired of the French attitude to his work: “that a
musician of the importance of M. Gouvy is still not very well known
in Paris… is enough to confuse and inflame the naive spirits that
still believe in the reason and the justice of our musical manners.”
Gouvy’s
Requiem
was only recently rediscovered, and his
symphonies
have been recorded on the CPO label.
As far as I can tell there is no competition for these recordings of
the
Piano Trios. Gouvy wrote five works in this genre, and my
only major complaint about this 2 CD release is why at least one of
the other two haven’t been included. The timing for CD 2 seems
to invite at least one more work, though even with 80+ minutes now being
possible on this medium I suppose a complete set would have struggled.
With this gripe out of the way, it does however have to be said that
these are pretty stunning recordings of some lively and attractive pieces.
To start with, do not be put off by the use of a fortepiano. The instrument
used here us a Pleyel from 1848, which has plenty of oomph and a fine,
deep resonance. There is some of that slightly twangy tone colour to
the sound as you would expect, but the collective sonority of this with
the strings - presumably gut - of the violin and cello, works extremely
well. Voces Intimae have been acclaimed for their recording of trios
by Schumann, though Michael Cookson wasn’t so enthusiastic (see
review).
I’ve had a listen to this online and can see his point about the
recording and the nature of the fortepiano in this case. I would say
even from a cursory comparison that the Gouvy recording is an entirely
different beast, the piano here rising far more to meet the qualities
of the string sound and creating an integrated and actually quite spectacular
sound - perhaps even a little over-bright, though different sound systems
will no doubt mellow this effect.
Gouvy’s piano trios are great fun in places. If you want to be
convinced have a listen to the beginning of the
Piano Trio No. 3,
which has a quite uplifting bounce. The influences of Schubert, Mendelssohn
and Schumann are never entirely absent, but Gouvy imbues his scores
with plenty of individual character. The harmonic ‘hook’
which leads us into the
Piano Trio No. 2 is quite memorable,
which is no doubt why it was placed first. The overall impression is
one of remarkably well crafted music which only really skims the surface
of those Romantic ideals which were meant to reflect the innermost feelings
and emotions. There is plenty of lovely lyrical material in the slower
movements, but there is also a certain amount of hanging around waiting
for something new to happen, both aspects which can be easily heard
in the
Adagio of the
Piano Trio No. 3.
Voces Intimae have dedicated a great deal of time to Hummel having recorded
his trios for Warner Classics in 2006, so it is not surprising that
they identify Gouvy’s use of material from his trio in E minor
Op. 83 in the opening movement of the
Piano Trio No. 4. The transparent
nature of this ‘classical’ opening creates a nice contrast,
and Gouvy’s clever development and variation is fascinating and
witty. The elegance and restraint of the
Larghetto is as good
as anything by many of your more famous composers, and the passion and
fire in the striking
Minuetto makes a mockery of such an innocent
sounding title.
Aside from the amount of empty disc for which you are paying I commend
this release wholeheartedly. Gouvy’s music may not be always biting
at the ankles of his illustrious musical forbears, but it is just the
thing for grey and rainy afternoons when you just want to be carried
along on a wave of inventive brilliance - especially in such a sparkling
recording and performances with as much commitment as these.
Dominy Clements
