HINDEMITH: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4; BRAHMS: Trio for Horn Violin, and Piano; SHOSTAKOVICH: Quintet for Piano and Strings in G Minor – Artur Balsam, piano/Boris Kroyt, viola/John Barrows, horn/Jac Gorodetzky, violin/Budapest Q. – Bridge

by | Jul 6, 2005 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

HINDEMITH: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4; BRAHMS:
Trio for Horn Violin, and Piano in E-flat; SHOSTAKOVICH: Quintet for
Piano and Strings in G Minor, Op. 57 – Artur Balsam, piano/Boris Kroyt,
viola/John Barrows, horn/Jac Gorodetzky, violin/Budapest String Quartet

Bridge 9175  74:08 (Distrib. Albany)****:

Some excellent chamber music resurfaces here, from three distinct
concert dates from the Library of Congress, 1951-1966, with the
earliest performance’s being the Shostakovich Piano Quartet (18
December 1951) and the last the rare Hindemith collaboration (4 March
1966) with the under-represented Boris Kroyt (1897-1969) and the
under-rated brilliant Polish pianist Artur Balsam (1906-1994). 
Filling in the middle of this excellent program is the Brahms Horn Trio
with French horn virtuoso John Barrows (1913-1974), whose inscription
of this same work with Joseph Szigeti and Mieczyslaw Horszowski on
Mercury is on my must-restore list of performances. The violinist for
the Brahms, Jac Gorodetzky, like violist Boris Kroyt, was a member of
the Budapest String Quartet who rarely appeared outside of the
ensemble, so we have a double opportunity to hear them in more intimate
repertory.

The star of these programs is Artur Balsam, whose effortless poise in
the diverse, musical styles sounds entirely natural, belying some of
the grueling finger work that marks each of the compositions.  The
Hindemith Sonata (1919) has a more romantic cast than his other, more
severe and polyphonically austere viola works, so Kroyt’s viola has
many opportunities to show off its luster. The knotty last movement has
Kroyt all over the fingerboard, making a virtuoso showpiece of a work
meant to demonstrate the composer’s own skills on his chosen
instrument. The Brahms Horn Trio (10 April 1952) enjoys a sober but
impassioned balance which bespeaks the players’ delight in each other’s
sonority. Gorodetzky’s violin is crisp and accurate, while Barrows’
horn alternately evokes the sound of the Black Forest and the mournful
elegy in memory of the composer’s mother.  The G Minor
Shostakovich Quintet (1940) is a busy piece, not without its moments of
profound sentiment in the Intermezzo (Lento) movement. The composer
pays homage to Bach in the opening two movements, breaking the somber
mood with a jaunty Scherzo, the middle of the Quintet’s extended
arch-form. All dashed off rather brilliantly and in fine bravura
fashion by Balsam and the Budapest Quartet – to whose respective
recorded legacies this disc proves an invaluable addition.

–Gary Lemco

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