Giuseppe MARTUCCI (1856-1909)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, op. 62 (1883) [41:00]
Piano Trio No. 1 in C major, op. 59 (1882) [33:42]
Trio Vega (Domenico Codispoti (piano), Marc Paquin (violin), Orfilia Saiz
Vega (cello))
rec. 2014, Auditorio Manuel de Falla, Granada, Spain
NAXOS 8.573438 [74:42]
Giuseppe Martucci was one of those brave souls who endeavoured to make a
name for himself in opera-crazy late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
Italy by composing symphonies and chamber music. Naxos - following the early
example of ASV - has released four CDs of his orchestral music, centred
around the two symphonies and two piano concertos. Naxos now move on to his
chamber music, of which there are these two trios, a piano quintet and a
number of short pieces for piano and violin or cello.
The second trio is placed first on the CD for no obvious reason. They were
written within a year of one another, and hence not surprisingly are quite
similar. Were one not paying attention to the passage of movements, it might
be difficult to discern when one work finishes and the next starts. That is
intended purely as an observation, rather than a criticism. Both works are
genial and enjoyable listening, though rather lacking in memorable moments.
They owe an obvious debt to Brahms, though lacking the drama and intensity -
as well as the glorious melodies. The First is far and away the better of
the two. At over forty minutes, the Second really doesn't have the musical
interest to sustain its more than forty minute span.
There is only one other recording to my knowledge of these two trios
together, that by Trio Mezzena-Bonucci on Dynamic CD132. It is no longer
available as a physical CD.
I don't hear much difference between it and this new recording in either
performance or audio quality. There is another version of the First, on
Claves (509210),
but it is far too slow. I'm fairly sure that a top-notch trio could make
more of these works, but the chances of Trio Wanderer or the Sitkovetsky
Trio recording these any time soon
are slim. If these works interest you, and you don't already have the
Dynamic recording, I would commend this new one. While I haven't been bowled
over by these works, I'm certainly hoping that Naxos will continue their
support of Martucci and give us the quintet and the duos.
David Barker
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