I tend to associate
the Peabody Trio with contemporary repertoire
but of course that can be a function
of the recording industry in skewing
perspectives. It’s true that this youthful,
Naumberg Chamber Music Award winning
trio has set down twentieth century
literature for New World Records and
for CRI but they opt for the canon in
their debut disc for Artek.
I enjoyed it for its
sane approach to tempi and for a pleasing
tonal blend. They approach the Ghost
Trio with neither reverence nor
casualness. So there is abruptness and
raptness (at the desolate, intensely
reflective end of the opening movement)
but well calibrated accents and sprung
rhythm. The dynamics are tiered in the
slow movement, sometimes daringly so,
though always audibly and whilst neither
of the string players – Violaine Melançon
(violin), Natasha Brofsky (cello) –
are big, meaty tonalists they are adept
at integrating unison passages. Pianist
Seth Knopp shines in the finale in particular
– fine, even playing – flexible and
light.
They approach the much
less well-known companion, the E flat
major, in a like spirit. There’s some
well-judged pomposo phrasing,
swelling dynamics and good attention
to detail, as well as some moments of
prayerful simplicity. I was most taken
by the Schubertian cast they impart
to the Allegretto second movement.
It would be interesting
to hear them in Brahms – to see how
they might aerate textures – but also
in the French School where I have a
strong feeling they will show affinities;
not that they fail that test here. The
recording is natural and well balanced.
Jonathan Woolf
The Peabody Trio 