Various Composers - History of the Russian Piano Trio, Vol. 5 (The Brahms Trio)

Information

• Vladimir Dyck - Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 25
• Constantin von Sternberg - Piano Trio No. 3 in C major, Op. 104
• Sergey Youferov - Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 52

The Brahms Trio

    Nikolai Sachenko, violin

    Kirill Rodin, cello

    Natalia Rubinstein, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Naxos

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Review

With these two discs The Brahms Trio conclude a journey of discovery that I have found both edifying and exhilarating. Vol 4 has to be my favourite, with a wonderful combination of Anton Arensky’s D minor Trio (1894) and Sergey Taneyev’s D major Trio (1906). Both composers belonged to the Moscow school, with Tchaikovsky as their model, and yet these works make a fascinating contrast. Arensky’s trio immediately pleases the ear, and we might even call it ‘middlebrow’. Taneyev’s trio demands more effort from the listener and undoubtedly qualifies as highbrow art: there is high emotion, certainly, but classical craftsmanship and ingenious counterpoint are always in evidence.

These three Russian virtuosos present the two trios with equal conviction, summoning up different palettes of colours for some truly high-level music-making. In the Arensky, their natural, speech-like delivery of the melody and their flexible rubato tug irresistibly at the heartstrings. In the Taneyev, they play with great seriousness of purpose, and also rise to the occasion when the composer steps outside his normal boundaries in the ferocious Scherzo – perhaps a reflection of the violence that overtook Russia in the Revolution of 1905.

In Vol 5, The Brahms Trio invite us to set out into terra incognita: don’t be surprised if you have not heard of Vladimir Dyck (who left Russia for France), Constantin von Sternberg (who ended up in the USA) or Sergey Youferov (who disappeared without trace after 1917). Their three trios, all written prior to the 1917 Revolution, are very different and full of surprises. Youferov’s Trio is a relentless emotional assault, while Sternberg’s is the opposite: classical in character, attractive if rather lightweight. Standing above these in artistic achievement is Dyck’s Trio, written in 1910 after he had settled in Paris. This is a powerful and persuasive work ranging from grandeur to whimsy. The slow movement illustrates perfectly his economy of means, as he somehow wrings highly affecting music out of simple three-note motifs.

Dyck’s life story is colourful and tragic: born in Odessa, he studied in Paris with Widor and won a Prix de Rome in 1911. He worked in lighter genres, including silent-movie scores, and also made a beautiful arrangement in 1933 of Hatikvah, when it became the official anthem of the Zionist Congress (today it is the national anthem of Israel). He was still in Paris when the German occupation began; in 1943 he was taken from his Paris home and from there conveyed to his death at Auschwitz.

The three composers on this disc could hardly find better advocates than The Brahms Trio. On a dull day, you might pass these scores by, but this top-class ensemble restore their magic. Together with the excellent fourth volume and the preceding three (6/21), this ‘History of the Russian Piano Trio’ is a set to treasure.

-- Marina Frolova-Walker

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Vladimir Dyck was born in 1882 in Ukraine, in the port city of Odessa. In 1899 he travelled to Paris and began studying at the Conservatoire with Charles-Marie Widor and Antoine Taudou. He took French nationality in 1910. After his graduation, Dyck earned his living by teaching piano and also began writing music for silent films. His concert music, highly influenced by his conservatoire training, was supplemented by a good deal of light music, and Dyck also began to work with Jewish material. His productive life came to a tragic end when he and his family were arrested in 1943 and taken to Auschwitz.

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Constantin von Sternberg was born in St Petersburg in 1852. He studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles, Friedrich Wieck, Theodor Kullak, and also for a short time with Liszt. After building up his career as a concert pianist and touring throughout Russia, Sternberg went on tour to a number of countries. Following his American debut in 1880 and several tours, he emigrated, becoming the director of the College of Music in Atlanta, and subsequently founded the Sternberg School of Music in Philadelphia. His compositions include a very substantial number of solo and chamber works. He died in Philadelphia in 1924.

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Sergey Youferov was born in 1865 in Odessa, and was a pupil of Glazunov and Nikolay Klenovsky in St Petersburg, and of Nikolay Hubert and Herman Laroche in Moscow. He also studied law and from the early 1890s was actively involved in the preparation of the Russian law on musical copyright. Youferov was an important figure in the musical and cultural life of Russia at the turn of 20th century, spending much of his time in St Petersburg and Kherson where he became head of the Imperial Russian Musical Society. Details of his life from 1917 to 1927 remain unknown including the exact time and place of his death.

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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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