The young Kempf Trio is made up of pianist Freddy Kempf, French violinist Pierre Bensaid and Armenian cellist Alexander Chaushian. The trio made its original debut in a chamber music festival in La Jolla, California, and is now based in London. They bring a fresh and tasteful interpretation to these two works, which is captured in very transparent and non-fatiguing BIS 5.0-channel sonics. The timbre of both stringed instruments is very pleasant and natural, providing quite a contrast to both historic recordings of the Archduke featuring Pablo Casals – the one with Cortot and Thibaud and the other with Istomin and Schneider. The super-smooth phrasing and blend of the three players on the SACD makes the dated sound and often rough-edged playing of the historic recordings sound almost annoying in comparison.
Kempf’s piano has a very large sonic image but is never too loud in relation to the other two instruments. The performers seem to be saving themselves a bit in the earlier three movements of both works, because in the finales there is more bite in the strings and sharper accents thruout. The Third Trio of the composer’s first Opus marks his leap into the Romantic movement, leaving behind the more Haydnesque early chamber works.The famous Archduke is so full of lovely melody and the Kempf Trio so adept at keeping up a constant flow in the music that the work’s 40-minute length goes by most quickly.
– John Sunier
