The three players in this Eudora release ‘Awaken’, Mika Yamamoto, piano, Mariko Nishikawa, violin -both from Japan-, and Juan Maria Raso Llaras, the Spanish link, are all new to me, and maybe also to many other music lovers. Be that as it may, waking up to the sound of the ‘Yugen Trio’ debut SACD turns out to be a startling joy. For the first ‘wake-up call’, they have chosen a seldom-played Haydn Piano Trio from his early, youth series, Hob. XV:35, with which they burst into your bedroom, playing with huge buoyancy like it must have been meant by Haydn when he composed it around 1771 as a Divertimento for pleasure. It is not as familiar and well constructed as those from his more mature period but it is all the same a captivating work. A wise choice, as the catalogue spills over with recordings of his later trios. As always with Haydn, the piano is the leading instrument, with the violin participating in the melody and the cello backing up the bass line. Nonetheless, the balance between the players is nicely done.

The following ‘awakening’ is Schubert’s Sonatensatz, having an equally juvenile ear-catching character, especially in the reading full of enthusiasm by the Yugen Trio. Short as it is, it serves as an attractive appetite whetting to the main item in the programme, Ravel’s Piano Trio, often described as a cornerstone in the chamber music repertoire. The liner notes tell us that “This third awakening resembles the unrestrained fantasy that we vividly live in our dreams”, adding that this Trio is “the one that pulls you out of your dream and overflows you with sensations that become hard for us to identify”. It certainly is a way to look at it. But more importantly, how do these three musicians convey their ideas to the listeners?

The first movement comes off like a dream and indeed with ‘sensations hard to identify’. Many magical colours, plaintive and haunting. But also, with passionate anxiety from which the listener can hardly escape, brought back to dreaming peace towards the end. I may recall that Ravel composed this trio in 1914 at the -imminent- outbreak of The Great War (as the French call the First World War), which must have had its impact on this composition. On the one hand, the urge to finish it before he, Ravel, was called into service (ambulance driver), on the other, trying desperately to escape from reality in a passionate dream, the inspiration of which he is supposed to have taken from a song popular in his beloved Basque County. I leave that to scholars on the subject, for the listeners I'm happy to confirm that the playing of the Yugen Trio takes your breath away throughout

The rush in the second movement must have been part of getting the job done in time. YT follow suit, before entering into the sombre mood of the third with ample consideration of what must have moved Ravel. The three musicians are here at their best. The sheer beauty is enviably on display. In stark contrast to the restless playing in the final movement as though foreshadowing the war.

Excellent though it is performed, the competition is fierce to the point of almost killing unless …. you have something to offer that most of the others have not. Such is the case here, with Eudora’s mastermind, Gonzalo Noqué, doing the engineering, and Tom Caulfield the DSD mastering, a new commendable version, to be considered with a positive ear, has seen the light.

Blangy-le-Château, Normandy, France.

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