MOZART: Piano Trios = Divertimento in B-flat Major, K. 254; Trio in E Major, K. 542; Trio in C Major, K. 548; Trio in G Major, K. 564 – Byron Schenkman, piano/Gabriela Diaz, violin/ Alexei Yupanqui Gonzales, cello – Centaur CRC 3031, 73:49 [Distr. by Naxos] ****:
The catalogue of Mozart’s piano trios embraces, retrospectively, aspects of the Baroque trio sonata and the pre-Classical accompanied piano sonata. The later works, however, reveal a decided concertato character, small virtuosic concerti for more than gifted amateurs. A good case in point for the older form is the first item on this happy disc, the so-called Divertimento, K. 254. Only momentarily does the violin part take the top line against the dominant keyboard, which moves graciously and briskly through its optimistic filigree. The Adagio takes its arioso cue from the operatic stage, here a duet–a la trio sonata–in which the violin assumes the florid part, the cello merely humming the bass line. The last movement Rondeau: Tempo di Menuetto shares the same French court that produced the D Major Violin Concerto, K. 218. The violin part commands even more attention than it had in the second movement; the piano plays running eighth notes over as continuo bass line. Then, the Mozart wit asserts itself, and the symmetrical phrases suffer intrusive accents, and both the violin and the piano alternate leadership positions. A striking moment occurs with a some brilliant fioritura for both instruments, only to relent in the last pages to the gracious formula that generates Mozart’s innate civility.
Until measure thirteen, the Trio in E-flat Major, K. 542 is a piano solo, but with the entrance of the strings, their part proves significant. The cello, for instance, asserts its own personality, and the violin leads and then shadows the keyboard. When the piano part divides the two hands, we have a trio sonata in four parts. The cello sings the secondary tune in G Major, a chance for cellist Alexei Gonzales to display a suave tone. The plastic, transparent nature of thee writing assures a hearty eloquence to all. The Andante gracioso rather opposes the piano and the strings, strong beats versus weak beats, with occasional dissonances tossed in by the strings that disturb an otherwise predictable universe. The cello appears sparingly in the final Alberti-bassed Allegro, whose limpidly clear texture resorts to the old trio-sonata format for the piano and violin. The cello, however, bursts in at least twice, even to having the last say in the latter part of the coda.
The K. 548 C Major Trio plays like a small concerto, especially as all the instruments play unisono at the opening, and the strong chordal processions mark the development of the first movement, the piano in brilliant eighth-note runs and leaps in sixteenths. Gabriela Diaz, too, has her hands full with double stops in the violin part, even collaborating with the cello as in a two-string concerto. The cello often leads with the piano, so there are moments that anticipate Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in the same key. When the cello introduces minor harmonies, the effect can be quite dramatic. The Andante cantabile, an extended operatic szena, instrumentally approximates a vocal trio or quartet, the right hand of the piano acting in duet with the violin, the cello’s adding a moving tenor role. This filigree might have been a rehearsal for colloquys in Cosi fan tutte. Another concerto texture marks the last movement, and piano and strings alternate for primacy. Mozart’s is a light touch, with long slides in the cello to counter the facile runs in the keyboard, the most precious a four-bar episode that takes a staccato arpeggio from the violin’s highest register right down to the lowest notes in the cello. With felicitous grace, the trio ends on resounding note of affirmation.
Lastly, the pastoral Trio in G Major, rife with drone effects and pedal points. The piano part separates from the strings, who often play as a single unit. The grace and fluency of the writing establishes the collaborative harmony of our principals, the writing well a presage of Beethoven’s violin sonatas and his own trio procedures. Schenkman’s right hand virtuosity displays itself in constant motion; at times, the bravura writing hints at the Haydn D Major Concerto. Every so often, the cello introduces its own tenor sound, resonant and hearty. The Andante and Variations derives from a folkish melody in piano staccato and harmonized by the strings. Each instrument successively introduces the tune. The progression increases the textural and harmonic complexity, until the last variation cedes the main theme to no one instrument, but each part elaborates a piece of the whole. The coda presents a world unto itself: the piano offers the simple tune, while the violin plies 64ths and the cello 16ths, then the keyboard right hand offers a syncopated pedal part on C, a folk effect with an aristocratic difference! Piano and violin open the last movement Allegretto, while the cello underlines the harmony in long notes. Clarion staccati from Schenkman poignantly counter the legato phrases from the strings. Before Mozart concludes, he offers a taste of brilliant four-part polyphony, all verve and seamless mastery of form and spirited content.
-Gary Lemco
Rodizinski, and the NBC Symphony, Vol. 1 – Beethoven, Debussy, Barber, Albéniz,… – Pristine Audio
Excellent restorations of Rodzinski’s pre-war performances.
