Piano Trios - Volume 4
Piano Trio in B flat major, Hob. XV:8 (1785) [12:52]
Piano Trio in A major, Hob. XV:9 (1786) [12:07]
Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. XV:10 (1786) [10:08]
Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. XV:11 (1789) [14:13]
Piano Trio in E minor, Hob. XV:12 (1789) [19:53]
Bartolozzi Trio (Matthew Truscott (violin), Richard Lester (cello), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano))
rec. 5-7 Sept 2012, Concert Hall, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK.
NAXOS 8.573128 [69:13]
Self-confessedly a man who composed not quickly, but ‘with
great care and efforts’, Joseph Haydn is known as the father
of both the symphony and the string quartet. On this CD, the Bartolozzi
Trio perform Haydn’s less celebrated, but no less important,
piano trios numbers 8-12.
Haydn’s naturally happy and cheerful temperament can be
felt through these performances. Musicologist James Webster’s
description of the composer’s public persona is a fitting
depiction of the essence of this CD: ‘Haydn’s public
life exemplified the Enlightenment ideal of the honest man:
the man whose good character and worldly success enable and justify
each other. His modesty and probity were everywhere acknowledged’.
Accordingly, the music on this CD consists of charming, well-balanced
pieces of even temperament. Played with a level tempo and not
at all blighted by melodramatic pretence, the Bartolozzi retain
the listener’s attention in an understated way which is
quintessentially Haydn in character.
Composed between 1794 and 1797, Haydn’s Piano Trios belong
to his ‘popular style’. The early trios are dominated
by a tinkling piano. In Haydn’s time the instrument lacked
the robust underbelly we now appreciate. The instrument is supported
and strengthened in the bass by the cello and often asymmetrically
doubled by the violin in the melodious passages. Sounding more
like pieces for piano with string accompaniment; Truscott and
Lester play with understated humility and subtlety, contentedly
giving Crawford-Phillips’ piano the lead. The three musicians
support and engage intimately with each other. The elegant singing
and intriguing surges of heartfelt emotion attract and draw us
near.
Comely and soothing, the A major work is played with delicacy
and grace. Melodies are carefully interlaced making sure there
are no frayed edges. Amid the continually weaving and connecting
motifs, the trio succeeds in delivering both simplicity and gentility.
The tone and sound quality of the three instrumentalists is rich
and enchanting. This is the sort of music that will chase away
distempered spirits, smooth furrowed brows and cradle you in its
warming inglenook; ignite passion, accompany swelling angst, and
stir revolutionary spirit it will not. On the fringes of Romanticism’s
profusion of untrammelled emotion (Haydn died in 1809), this music
is comparatively polite, orderly and reserved.
In three movements, the longest piece and the only work in a minor
key: the Piano Trio in E minor is compelling from the
outset. The second movement is serene and arrestingly soothing.
Here it conveys sentiments of most tender longing with caritas
and perspicuity. Characteristically direct and crystalline in
its succinct qualities and clarity of intention, the players exercise
restraint to allow the music work to speak for itself: unadorned
and unadulterated.
Lucy Jeffery
Previous review: Brian
Reinhart
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