Antonín Dvořák - Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 (Florestan Trio)

Information

Composer: Antonín Dvořák; Josef Suk

• Dvořák - Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 21
• Suk - Elegy in D flat major, Op. 23
• Dvořák - Piano Trio No. 2 in G minor, Op. 26

Florestan Trio

    Anthony Marwood, violin

    Richard Lester, cello

    Susan Tomes, piano

Date: 2008

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Dvorák’s two early trios are less popular than the F-minor and Dumky because they supposedly reflect a certain immaturity with respect to handling of form, idiomatic piano writing, and even characteristic melody. Nonsense. Listen to the exposition of the First Trio’s first movement: these tunes would not be out of place coming from Dvorák’s “American” period. They are lovely works, and while I don’t always see the necessity in recording complete cycles, in this case I can only welcome the exposure that these less frequently played pieces are getting. After all, it’s not as if we’re drowning in great 19th-century piano trios.

As with the first disc in this cycle, the performances by the Florestan Trio are models of sensitive chamber music playing. Balances among the three instruments are always well judged; the rhythms in the scherzos are well-sprung, while the slow movements have warmth without schmaltz. Of the two trios, the performance of the First strikes me as marginally finer than the Second in the outer movements, but this is a very subjective impression. One small caveat: violinist Anthony Marwood’s timbre in Suk’s brief Elegy, here sandwiched between the two larger works, could be more alluring above the stave. But this is a tiny drawback in what otherwise is a lovely disc, very well engineered. [2/19/2008]

— David Hurwitz

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

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The Florestan Trio, founded in London in 1995, was one of the world's most-recorded piano trios. Renowned for their recordings on the Hyperion label, all their albums received critical acclaim and Gramophone Award nominations. Their Schumann disc won the 1999 Gramophone Award, and their French piano trios CD became a top-seller. Spanning composers from Mozart to Saint-Saëns, their recordings set high standards in chamber music. After sixteen successful years, the trio disbanded in 2011 as members pursued separate paths. Their final performances took place at London's Wigmore Hall in January 2012.

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