TANEYEV: String Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 31; String Trio in B Minor; String Trio in D Major – Leopold String Trio – Hyperion

by | Oct 19, 2008 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

TANEYEV: String Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 31; String Trio in B Minor; String Trio in D Major – Leopold String Trio – Hyperion CDA67573, 67:29  [Distrib. by Harmonia mundi] ****:

It seems that Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) qualifies as the first Russian composer to embrace the medium of the string trio, perhaps based on his infatuation with Mozart and Beethoven as exemplars. Taneyev, Tchaikovsky’s greatest pupil and master of various forms of contrapuntal discipline, remains best known for a mere handful of works, in particular his Concert Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28.  The ambitious, four-movement String Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 31 (1911) was meant for violin, viola, and tenor viola; for this recording Kate Gould, cello has rescored the part for her instrument. Rather symphonic in sonority, the first movement proceeds festively, with sumptuous counterpoint filling in for rather austere melodies. The Scherzino enjoys a more original and captivating harmony and appeal, crisply playful in its alteration of bowed and plucked sounds. The twangy energy sometimes resembles Grieg (Peer Gynt) and Mendelssohn (the Octet): light, whimsical, rife with clever humor. The slow movement, an Adagio espessivo, nods affectionately to both Mozart and Tchaikovsky, its wistful imitation proceeding in a manner that recalls Borodin’s famous Nocturne. The violin of Isabelle van Keulen provides a sweet foil to Kate Gould’s deep cello. Cyclical procedures reintroduce materials from the first movement, but here they are enriched and varied with a verve that has the violinist quite active, the coda urging a real sense of the Russian soul.

The 1913 String Trio in B Minor remained unfinished by Taneyev’s death and exists in two movements, which editors had to finish, using the composer’s sketches. The first movement is in sonata-form, and the second movement presents a theme-and-variations, both in the same key. Dark and nervous, this chromatic piece might be mistaken for a young Shostakovich in its modal, edgy and somber cast, which momentarily breaks into a gloomy dance or hint of Russian folk song. Eerie sonorities pervade the writing, and viola Lawrence Power has several expressive–or expressionistic–runs. If this piece has any pedigree, it might be the savage agony in Smetana’s From My Life Quartet. The theme and seven variations begins with tender melancholy, certainly a legacy from Tchaikovsky. The successive variations form a lyrical suite that keeps the contours of the original theme, but the innate sadness never quite leaves us, despite an actively contrapuntal, first Presto then Allegro con spirito, and concluding Presto that communicate drive and passionate energy.

The String Trio in D Major (1880) languished in relative obscurity after its 10 April 1880 premier, not having been revived until 1956. Tchaikovsky read through and signed the autograph score. Classically polished, the piece owes influences to Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat, K. 563, but Bach is not far away, especially in the athletic fugue. The first movement writing is clear and elastic, parts ingratiatingly blended. Most ambitious is the second movement, marked Scherzo in contrapunto alla reversa, the mirrored counterpoint likely indebted to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Startlingly un-academic, the music moves in feathery, razor-sharp figures, a musical barracuda with a Smetana-like, heavy-footed peasant dance middle section. The slow movement passes by in introspective melancholy, with expressive violin and cello in mellow dialogue; the Allegro molto finale, however, reverts to the Russian type of Cossack dance, assertive, fugal, and pungently explosive.

Brilliantly recorded by Simon Eadon at Potton Hall, Suffolk, England, 17-19 January 2008, this recording will beguile many an audiophile and stump self-styled purveyors of name-that-tune sensibilities.

–Gary Lemco

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