Bedřich Smetana; Franz Liszt - Piano Trio; Elegies (Trio Wanderer)

Information

Composer: Bedřich Smetana; Franz Liszt

1. Liszt - Tristia, transcription of La Vallée d'Obermann, for violin, cello & piano, S. 723c
2. Liszt - Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth for violin & piano, S. 382
3. Liszt - Romance oubliée for violin & piano, S. 132
4. Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15: 1. Moderato assai
5. Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15: 2. Allegro ma non agitato
6. Smetana - Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15: 3. Finale. Presto
7. Liszt - Elegie No. 1 for cello & piano, S. 130
8. Liszt - Elegie No. 2 for violin & piano, S. 131
9. Liszt - La Lugubre Gondole (Elegie No. 3) for cello & piano, S. 134

Trio Wanderer

    Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, violin

    Raphaël Pidoux, cello

    Vincent Coq, piano

Date: 2011

Label: harmonia mundi

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Review

It’s not every CD that has grief, misery and death as its theme, but then some of Western music’s finest works have been inspired by desolation. At the centre of the Trio Wanderer’s programme is Smetana’s early G minor Trio, a lament over the death of his small daughter and a model for the later “elegiac trios” of Dvorák, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. “No Archduke,” wrote JB Priestley, one of whose favourite works this was, “but then would a little girl want one? – but a work of great tenderness and some depth.” These qualities are vividly conveyed by the Trio Wanderer with Vincent Coq’s piano well to the fore in a bright acoustic, though on balance I prefer the lighter touch of Jitka Cechová with the Smetana Trio (Supraphon).

The other major work is a real rarity on disc, Tristia, Liszt’s revision of a trio arrangement by the Danish composer Edward Lassen of one of his greatest works, “Vallée d’Obermann” from the Swiss book of Années de pèlerinage. The duologue between violin and cello is most effective in emphasising the Weltschmerz rather than the pianistic virtuosity of the original, though the Trio does not hold back in the ecstatic final pages. The five remaining Liszt pieces are for cello or violin with piano, all late works from around 1880 and ending with “Elegy No 3”, better known in its piano original, La lugubre gondola, Liszt’s prescient vision of his son-in-law Wagner’s death. Heartfelt, lyrical performances with an excellent booklet by Jan Wolfrum.

— Jeremy Nicholas

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Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. The basic materials from which Smetana fashioned his art, according to Newmarch, were nationalism, realism and romanticism. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride and for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land.

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Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, and music teacher. Liszt gained renown in Europe for his virtuosic skill as a pianist and in the 1840s he was considered to be the greatest pianist of all time. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent composers of the "New German School". Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony.

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Trio Wanderer's members all graduated from the Paris Conservatoire. In 1988, they won the ARD Competition in Munich and, in 1990, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the US. The Trio has performed on the most prestigious stages, collaborated with famous artists, and has been accompanied in triple or double concertos by renowned orchestras around the world. Trio Wanderer has recorded more than 20 CDs for Harmonia Mundi since 1999, as well as recordings produced by Sony Classical, Accord, Cyprès, Cappricio and Mirare. Their recordings have been repeatedly recognized by critics and won multiple prizes.

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