Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2

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Wu Qian dazzles but never blinds and her seemingly-easy virtuosity is well matched by violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich. There's always the sense of three individuals... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2015 More…

Release Date: 29th Jun 2015
Catalogue No: BIS2109
Label: BIS
Length: 56 minutes

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Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66

Work length28:49

$5.50

$8.40

Sitkovetsky Trio

I. Allegro energico e con fuoco

Track length10:16

$1.50

$2.30

II. Andante espressivo

Track length7:06

$1.50

$2.30

III. Scherzo. Molto allegro quasi presto

Track length3:20

$1.00

$1.50

IV. Finale. Allegro appassionato

Track length8:07

$1.50

$2.30

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49

Work length28:06

$5.00

$7.60

Sitkovetsky Trio

I. Molto allegro agitato

Track length9:31

$1.50

$2.30

II. Andante con moto tranquillo

Track length6:43

$1.00

$1.50

III. Scherzo. Leggiero e vivace

Track length3:22

$1.00

$1.50

IV. Finale. Allegro assai appassionato

Track length8:30

$1.50

$2.30

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‘The masterpiece of our time in the trio genre’ is how Robert Schumann described Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor when he reviewed the work upon its publication in 1840. Comparing it to the trios by Beethoven and Schubert, Schumann continued: ‘a very beautiful composition, which in years to come will continue to delight our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.’ And so it has – the D minor trio remains one of the most popular of Mendelssohn’s chamber works, uniting the composer’s gift for melody with his feeling for textures and formal mastery. A few years later he penned the Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor between February and April 1845. An intensely emotional first movement is followed by a blissful Andante espressivo and a shimmering, truly Mendelsohnian Scherzo. The Finale returns to the passionate mood of the opening, but in the course of the movement hymn-like allusions appear and lend an air of sacred celebration to the movement. These two highpoints in the Romantic repertoire for piano trio are here performed by the young Sitkovetsky Trio. The ensemble made their début on disc in 2014 with recordings of trios by Dvořák and Smetana, to critical acclaim: ‘A grandiose recording by three grandiose young musicians, forming a trio of great integrity’, was the verdict in the German magazine Ensemble, which also chose the disc as its ‘Five Star Recording’.

Reviews

November 2015

Wu Qian dazzles but never blinds and her seemingly-easy virtuosity is well matched by violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich. There's always the sense of three individuals listening to one another to create a satisfying whole, right from the expansive phrasing they employ in the opening of the D minor trio.

June 2015

Performances of these great works that equal the best, and in superlative sound.

16th August 2015

The D minor trio was always popular, but what these magnificent performances by the powerful Sikovetskys show is that the late C minor trio (which they place first on the disc) is hardly less impressive.

23rd June 2015

One of Mendelssohn’s own watercolours of the Amalfi coast is on the cover of the Sitkovetsky Trio’s recording, all honeyed village walls and turquoise sea; a similar sense of heat and spaciousness comes across in their performance of his two piano trios...Wu Qian rattles off the piano part with a deft, light touch, and the violin and cello have room to be as crisply quiet as they like.

Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2

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