Mendelssohn strove
to reconcile the classical heritage
of the 18th century with the romantic
mood of his own personality. He left
only two piano trios but it is known
that before he was eleven years old
he wrote another which has since been
lost. There are letters that indicate
that the genre attracted him far more
than his two surviving contributions
would indicate. During a visit to Paris
when he was 23, he wrote to his sister
Fanny of his intention to write another
piano trio. It was not until
1839 that he actually composed his first
Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49.
The D minor work
was an immediate success and has
proved to be one of his most popular
scores ever since. Composer Robert Schumann
was captivated by the work and in his
capacity as a music journalist he wrote
at length in a review of 1840:-
"It is
necessary to say but little of Mendelssohn’s
trio since it must be in everyone’s
hands. It is the master trio of
today as in their day were those
of Beethoven in B-Flat and D; as
was that of Franz Schubert in E-Flat;
indeed a lovely composition which
years from hence will still delight
grand- and great-grand children
.... He has raised himself so high
that we can indeed say he is the
Mozart of the nineteenth century;
the most brilliant among musicians;
the one who has most clearly recognized
the contradictions of the time,
and the first to reconcile them
.... So let the new work have its
effect everywhere, as it should
have, and prove anew to us the artistic
power of its creator. This now appears
to be in fullest flower."
In well-balanced proportions
the four movement work is exquisite
and remains the most admired of Mendelssohn’s
two piano trios. It has an abundance
of charm and aesthetic appeal that has
maintained its eminent status in the
chamber music repertoire. He was careful
to involve all of the participants equally
in the D minor work. However
in the presentation and development
of the thematic material it is the piano
which is granted the most brilliant
of the three parts. In the original
version of the work the piano part was
considerably more subdued. In later
years Mendelssohn undertook a revision
at the urging of his friend, the composer
and conductor Ferdinand Hiller, who
encouraged him to incorporate some of
the advanced technical devices of Liszt
and Chopin the better to display the
skill of the pianist.
The Polish-based trio
of Danczowska, Imielowska and Cieniawa
give a high class performance of the
Mendelssohn score and one has a sense
of collective music making and sheer
enjoyment. Fluid and passionate playing
is the order of the day without ever
any hint of loss of control. I was especially
impressed with the playing in the demanding
and sparkling yet porcelain-like third
movement scherzo; just the right
amount of care and delicacy.
The Piano Trio No.
2 in E minor Op. 67, Shostakovich’s
second piece in the genre, was created
amongst the turmoil of war in 1944 while
he was holidaying at the Soviet composers’
resort in Ivanovo. Although far from
the front-line, Shostakovich was haunted
by the images of war. As well as being
distressed by the death in action of
his young Jewish protégée
Benjamin Fleischmann, who was Shostakovitch’s
most promising student at the Leningrad
Conservatory, the composer was devastated
by the death of his closest friend,
Ivan Sollertinsky, from a heart attack
in 1944. The Trio is dedicated to Sollertinsky
and was finished in the autumn of 1944,
together with the String Quartet No.
2 in A major, Op. 68. The première
was entrusted to the Beethoven Quartet,
although the famous trio of Leo Oborin,
David Oistrakh and Svyatoslav Knushevitsky
tried hard to obtain the right. The
world première performance took
place on 14 November 1944 in Leningrad
and was one of the first concerts after
the city’s terrible 900 day siege. Shostakovich
on piano was accompanied by violinist
Dmitri Tsyganov and cellist Vasil Shirinsky.
The E minor Piano Trio
has become recognised as one of the
masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire.
Unlike the Mendelssohn work this trio
cannot be expected to, "delight
successive generations of music lovers".
Its four movements leave the listener
with a lump in the throat and a long
uncomfortable silence before the ovation.
Danczowska, Imielowska
and Cieniawa give a powerful reading
with a firm conviction that helps to
communicate the work’s elegiac character.
The brooding mood and contrasting emotional
colours of the opening movement andante
are displayed most effectively as
is the despairingly wild conclusion
to the allegro. Shostakovich
wrote the final two movements to be
played without a pause to form a single
entity. Our players are suitably moving
in the largo and offer the appropriate
amount of sorrowful undercurrent which
lies beneath the folk dance character
of the allegretto.
These finely shaped
and blended performances with a high
quality of tone are well worth hearing.
The recorded sound from the Polish label
CD Accord is of a good standard with
concise and informative annotation.
This fine account of the Mendelssohn
stands shoulder to shoulder with the
highly-rated versions by the Gould Piano
Trio on Naxos 8.555063 and Trio de Barcelona
on Harmonia Mundi HMT 7901335. In the
Shostakovich I cannot recommend
any version other than the outstanding
account from the Borodin Quartet on
a marvellous value double from Teldec
Ultima 8573-87820-2. This is coupled
with the Piano Quintet and the First
and Fifteenth String Quartets.
Michael Cookson
Complete
CD Accord Catalogue
Kaja Danczowska (violin)
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