| Site review by Polly Nomial June 23, 2006
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
This release from Tudor just had me shaking my head in disbelief. Compared to other very good releases, like Schubert: Octet - Scharoun Ensemble, Janacek: Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba - Nott or Franz Anton Hoffmeister: Notturnos (Quintets) - Simon Fuchs this just does not have the same standards of musicianship despite the obviously good ties that Tudor enjoys with first rank musicians in other repertoire.
The recording as a technical piece of work is in itself fine, with neither too much nor too little in the way of reverberation.
Now to heart of the problem - Natalia Savinova's cello playing. She is just completely out of her depth in this repertoire and on a completely different plane to her competent colleagues. There are stretches for phrases on end where she is fractionally and stubbornly out of tune. When I first heard it I almost laughed out loud but upon reptition, the feeling quickly becomes one of dread and fear for my aural sensibilities. The violinist Mikhail Tsinman also sounds as if he has reached his technical limitations at times but he manages to prevent himself from falling foul of trouble. The person I feel really sorry for is Victor Yampolsky, who is clearly a fine musician and understands Shostakovich's work well but is let down badly by his cellist. Despite the overall good phrasing and pacing of each work the intonation problems are something that, not even in the early days of recording, would have passed muster.
Not recommended.
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Copyright © 2006 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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| Review by Beagle April 10, 2008 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S): |
Shostakovich's trios are always interesting listening since he, like Beethoven, is a bit more jovial and relaxed in his trios than in his quartets, cracking jokes with friends rather than encoding criticisms of Stalin. For that reason it is fortunate that we have the excellent Shostakovich, Paul Juon: Piano Trios - Trio Paian.
I agree completely with Polly: the sound on this disc is satisfying -- but not the musicianship. Like the proverbial Curate's Egg, moments of music-making are quite good, just storming along in true Shostakovich style -- but then comes a gap in the tension which dissipates any cumulative energy. The fault is not Yampolsy's; he cracks the whip but the mules don't canter. At moments in the Sonata even Yampolsky misses his beat, waiting for the cello. The playing is so deliberate that I was certain that Rachmaninov Trio's performances were significantly longer in duration than those of the competition. But in fact the first two pieces are remarkably shorter (were repeats left out? I don't think so):
Trio No. 1
11:57 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
12:57 Trio Paian
10:53 Rachmaninov Trio
Cello Sonata
29:31 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
27:03 Rachmaninov Trio
But none of the above truly prevented me from enjoying the music, even though doubts nagged for my attention. What stopped me dead in my digital tracks was loud Gouldian vocal grunting – perhaps of frustration from Yampolsky? --Which raises the question: why was this recording made? Was a contract signed and its deadline forced the hands which were not ready?
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