The Nash Ensemble - Mendelssohn: Piano Trios (2006) CD-Rip

In January 1832 Felix Mendelssohn wrote to his sister Fanny, declaring: I would like to compose a couple of good piano trios . He had already written one piano trio before he was eleven now lost but it was not until 1839 that Op.49 appeared, to be hailed by Schumann as the master trio of the age, as were the Bb and D major Trios of Beethoven and the Eb Trio of Schubert . Mendelssohn s supremely confident work, with its clear understanding of the multi-faceted relationship between the three instruments, is indeed one of his most successful creations, a status which, as Schumann s appraisal seems to suggest, owes much the composer s fusion of the formal gravitas of Beethoven with the harmonic twists of Schubert. In the superbly-wrought first movement Mendelssohn immediately plunges the listener into an intense sound-world. An expansive and melancholic opening theme on the cello is taken up by the violin, while the piano accentuates the troubled atmosphere with undulating textures. The sunny second subject, in A major, offers respite before the onset of the development, marked agitato. The piano s virtuosic role in this movement is representative of the whole Trio; in contrast the violin and cello are more frequently called upon to articulate Mendelssohn s thematic material, the taut integration of which allows them less opportunity for conventional displays of brilliance. Yet they shine in other ways, with soaring lyricism and close-knit, singing duets. The Andante opens with a delicate melody, played by the piano alone like a Song Without Words. Later come dramatic alternations between Bb minor and Db major but these only briefly ruffle the prevailing Schubertian calm. While the first two movements demonstrate Mendelssohn s melodic facility, the Scherzo displays the composer s affinity for brilliant up-tempo music, as already seen in the Octet and A Midsummer Night s Dream