Various Composers - History of the Russian Piano Trio, Vol. 2 (The Brahms Trio)

Information

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50
• Paul Pabst - Piano Trio in A major

The Brahms Trio

    Nikolai Sachenko, violin

    Kirill Rodin, cello

    Natalia Rubinstein, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Naxos

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Review

One of Chamber Music’s very exciting works is this trio for piano, violin and cello, which Tchaikovsky composed in 1881. It is in a-minor, has the opus number50 and consists of only 2 movements, but some movements they are! The First movement has the term: ”Pezzo elegiaco” and lives up with by a duration of ca. 20 minutes to all one’s expectations of elegical music, but also added with a sweetness, which is so characteristic for the great Russian composers. The second movement plays around half an hour, and Tchaikovsky has called it “Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto, Variazione finale e coda”. These variations are extremely varied, wild and virtuoso, full of fantasy and quietly – without ever becoming too much.  In any case, not as they are plaed here by the Russian Brahms Trio, which consists o three excellent chamber musicians: Nikolai Schenko, violin, Kirill Rodin, cello, and Natalia Rubinstein, piano. They have all grown up in the tradition which Moscow has raised so many brilliant ensembles, for instance the legendary Oirstrakh-trio, which of course also has recorded this Tchaikovsky work. The new recording by Naxos lives up to this towering level, and on top of that you get an additional gift.

I must admit that I haven’t previously heard music by Pavel Pabst who lived from 1854 to 1897 deriving from Kaliningrad (or Königsberg), but later moved to Moscow, where he especially made himself noted by re-working other composer’s works, thus Tchaikovsky’s.

And had it been a “blind-listening” – I would’ve guessed Tchaikovsky – or some other Slavic romantic.

Pabst’s piano trio i A-major was composed in 1895, two years after Tchaikovsky’s death and is an interesting work, a distinguished added gift to an already very attractive album.

-- Peter Dürrfeld

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Romantic Russian composer. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression.

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Paul Pabst (15 May 1854 – 9 June 1897) was a pianist, composer and teacher. Born in Königsberg he studied piano with his father, then in Vienna with Anton Door, and in Weimar with Franz Liszt. In the 1878 he accepted an invitation from Nikolai Rubinstein to teach at the Moscow Imperial Conservatory. Pabst was appointed Professor of Piano in 1881 after Rubinstein's death, and taught there for the rest of his life. Amongst his pupils were Sergei Lyapunov and Nikolai Medtner. His compositions include a Piano Concerto, a Piano Trio dedicated to Anton Rubinstein, and many piano transcriptions.

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The Brahms Trio is one of the leading chamber ensembles of Russia, a piano trio that unites violinist Nikolai Sachenko – Gold Medal at the XI Tchaikovsky Competition, cellist Kirill Rodin – Gold Medal at the VIII Tchaikovsky Competition, and pianist Natalia Rubinstein – First Prize at the Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition. Founded in Moscow in 1988, the Brahms Trio has performed worldwide and has recorded much of Russian piano trio repertoire. The Trio made a contribution to enlarging the chamber repertoire by rediscovering unknown piano trios of Russian composers of the late-19th and early-20th century.

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