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Shostakovich: 2 Piano Trios - Trio Paian

Shostakovich: 2 Piano Trios - Trio Paian

Coviello Classics  COV 50502

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Chamber


Shostakovich: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2, Paul Juon: Piano Trio Op. 17, Trio Miniaturen

Trio Paian

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Review by John Miller - December 6, 2007

Shostakovich was able to develop his personal style most easily in his chamber music, as the Soviet Committees overseeing the Arts ignored mere domestic music, being concerned mainly with the message of his public works. The two trios here have become staples of the trio repertoire, and they are very different.

Op. 8 was a student work, written when the composer was 17 years old, and showing off his prowess, partly by flaunting tradition and constructing a single movement work. Some commentators have alleged that the structure echoes classical forms, but I think that is hard to prove. There are a succession of moods blowing like clouds across the sun; phlegmatic, dancing, songful, turbulent, passionate, rhapsodic and sardonic, just the sort of feelings a highly creative teenager like Shostakovich would feel. The Paian Trio have the measure of this music and the heart and soul to express it. They unerringly point the climaxes and negotiate the seams between sections as though the music was pouring straight from the composer's pen into their fingers, making the movement into an organic whole. In particular, their singing tone emphasises what a marvellous melodist Shostakovich was, even at this tender age.

The second trio, Op. 67 is a complete contrast. Written in 1944, a time of war and bitter privation in the Soviet Union, it was penned as a response to the death of Ivan Sollertinski, mentor, close friend and supporter in Shostakovich's battles with the Art Commissars. It is a deeply personal utterance and stunned the contemporary audiences, who were desolated and left the concerts "crying and screaming with abandon", such that further performances were banned. The work is undoubtedly one of Shostakovich's masterpieces, and is given a truly great performance by the Paian. The trio certainly deeply understand this music and its context, and have the technique and musical instincts to pull it off, perhaps even eclipsing the performance by Askenazy, Harrel and Perlman on Decca RBCD. They achieve an intensity and grave beauty of tone which is sustained throughout the four movements, including the desolate Largo, leaving the listener deeply moved and even drained. A very fine achievement indeed.

In an excellent programming decision, the Trio follow with some sunny works by Paul Juan, whom I had never heard of. He was born in 1872 in Moscow of Swiss parents, and was trained in violin and composition at the conservertoire, before moving to Berlin for more study. A teaching post at the Baku Conservertoire floolowed for several years before a return to Berlin to take up a teaching position at the Berlin Musikhochschule on the recommendation of no less a person than Joseph Joachim, the great violinist and friend of Brahms.

Juan's style is fully Romantic, but there are influences of Slavic folk music and I thought I even detected a touch of Percy Grainger! His chamber music is fully up to the standard of much of Dvořák's; he writes really memorable tunes and the craftmanship is impeccable. The piano trio is a delight and invites repeated hearings. This well-filled disc (a few seconds over 71 mins) is rounded off with a selection of Juan's 'Minatures' for trio - delectable fare, my favourite being the Danse Phantastique which should be top of every trio's encore list.The Paian are obviously enjoying giving this music an outing, and respond with rich tone (especially the cellist) and buoyant rhythms.

The recording, in 5.0 PCM, does full justice to the musicians, who are seated in the other half of your listening room behind the front speakers, with just enough space around them to allow their tone to develop, and with pinpoint focus. It may be that DSD would have given a little more beauty to the upper partials, but I feel that 5 stars for the recording is deserved. Unfortunately, there are no details about the recording given in the booklet. The stereo layer is also beautifully balanced.

The booklet itself is attractively designed and has German and English notes on the music and brief biographies of the Trio members, but sadly no photographs of them.

Keep your eyes and ears on Trio Paian, I very much hope we hear more from them on SACD, and certainly I would love to hear more of Paul Juon's sunny music. Well done Coviello Classics for a superb release.

Copyright © 2007 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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