Edwin Fischer formed
his first Trio in 1935. Its cellist
was Enrico Mainardi, the fine Italian
musician, and the violinist was the
ill-starred Georg Kulenkampff whose
early death in 1948 led to his replacement
by Viennese classicist Wolfgang Schneiderhan.
The original group proved congenial
partners with the string players forming
a strong duo in the Brahms Double and
the cellist and Fischer making good
sonata performers. The original trio
with Kulenkampff left no recordings
and no live performances are known to
have survived. The later group has fared
better. This Brahms Trio disc replicates
a Music and Arts issue of some years
back – the same company that has also
issued a double CD set of the Trio’s
performances from Lucerne and via Bavarian
broadcast material. I believe it’s to
Bavarian Radio that we owe thanks for
preserving these Brahms trios, though
Archipel are crashingly silent on all
matters of documentation. Indeed apart
from the works and the names of the
performers there is nothing else - this
is an austerity production and it doesn’t
disclose the nature of the tape restoration
or its source.
Though Fischer was
to give up public performance in 1955
he still shows why he was so admired
a musician. There are inevitable imperfections,
not least in the matter of balance and
a slightly brittle recording that tends
to expose tonal imperfections, particularly
in the higher positions, with a degree
of harshness. This is slightly more
the case in the B flat major which was
recorded in 1953 then the companion
trio, though it too suffers in this
respect. For all the affectionate phrasing
and interplay I can’t help noting a
pervasive problem, for me, and that’s
Schneiderhan’s metallic tone, at least
as preserved in these broadcasts. His
string colleague Mainardi sounds rather
more elegant than the violinist and
rather less monochromatic as well and
it makes unison playing somewhat uncomfortable.
The performance of the Op.8 trio makes
a fascinating comparison with the slightly
earlier live 1947 Schnabel-Szigeti-Fournier
one, preserved on Arbiter. The Austro-Italo-Swiss
trio are tauter all round and Fischer
manages to impart superb gravity and
depth into the Adagio even at a much
faster basic tempo. The Fischer trio
are quite slow in the trio of the scherzo
but are taut elsewhere. In the Op 87
trio we can again detect steeliness
in the violin tone and once or twice
some nasality in Mainardi’s but Fischer
underpins his colleagues with stoicism
and a degree of implacable honesty,
phrasing with affectionate lyricism.
The finale is especially bold and full
of lyrical cantilever.
Notwithstanding the
problems noted it’s good to have the
Fischer Trio’s performances available
in the catalogue. I’m not sure that
this reflects them at their best, or
tonally most ingratiating, and I still
remain cautious about Archipel’s transfer.
But they should be heard.
Jonathan Woolf
Edwin Fischer (piano) 