Comparison Recordings:
Taneyev Trio, Belcanto Strings MDG 834
1003-2
Purcell Fantasia. London Baroque, EMI
7 63066-2
Sergei Taneyev, student
and friend of Tchaikovsky, first to
perform the B minor piano concerto,
a founder and director of the Moscow
Conservatory, teacher of Prokofiev and
many others, has finally come into his
own as a composer in the West. Long
popular in Russia, it has been little
more than fifteen years since that first
Western recording of his Piano Quintet
awakened curiosity for more of his music.
With release of Russian recordings as
well as new Western recordings much
of his excellent chamber, vocal and
symphonic music is now available to
us. Even his less talented uncle Alexander
has now had some of his music recorded!
This recording by the
Langroise Trio of the Op. 21 was the
first made in the West. The chosen acoustic
blends the sound and makes these three
instruments sound almost orchestral
in effect. On the other hand the Belcanto
strings are more closely recorded
and play beautifully, but appear to
be so concerned with beauty of sound
and the arc of their phrases that the
dramatic structure of the music is not
so effectively projected.
We read about how many
sixteenth through eighteenth century
composers began to study law and then
switched to music as a career. Mark
Lenz, formerly trombonist with the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra, went the other
way, switching from music to the law,
practising currently in Reno, Nevada,
USA. The three movements of this work
for two cellos, played here in a transcription
for cello and viola, are named, respectively,
Hindemistic, Elgaronne, and Shostafuga.
My observation is that the names were
likely added after the fact, since the
music gets on quite well without them,
and we do not hear profoundly ingenious
parodies, only a celebration of the
sound of string instruments.
Heard between these
works, the Purcell sounds amazingly
modern. The remnants of modal harmonic
practice in Purcell’s phrases resonate
well with the neo-modal harmonies of
the surrounding works. The London Baroque
play viols, in an authentic staccato
phrased, necessarily equal-tempered
performance, whereas the Langroise Trio
play in just intonation on members of
the violin family, allowing us the full
flavor of Purcell’s ripe and pungent
harmonies. This is an affectionate but
not sentimental performance.
The most remarkable work on this disk
is the Earnest Trio, in particular the
first movement. Like most great composers,
Earnest freely borrows phrases and moods
from other composers, fully assimilating
these influences into his own art. The
first moments of this work might be
said to depict Philip Glass meeting
César Franck, but the impression
is only momentary as the music sweeps
onward with its own authentic and vitally
compelling logic. As we explore this
rich tonal landscape, there are moments
of aggressive dissonance, not unlike
middle period Bartók, but the
overall shape of the music is solidly
neo-Romantic. With each hearing, this
work further ingratiates itself and
I will be very surprised if Earnest
is not soon universally recognized as
one of the major musical personalities
of the early twenty-first century. Fortunately
his works are frequently performed by
the Langroise Trio, among others and
samples of his music can be heard at
www.broadjam.com/davidalanearnest
Paul Shoemaker
Langroise Trio: Geoffrey Trabichoff, violin; David
Johnson, viola, Samuel Smith, cello 
