Description
With this second instalment, the piano trio Voces Intimae complete their survey of all Robert Schumann's Piano Trios. While the first volume was performed on period instruments, this one is on modern instruments and it has an outstanding bonus in the Trio op.27 by Clara Schumann, her chamber music masterpiece.
There is no equal in music history to the fruitful intertwining - both human and artistic - between Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Clara Wieck (1819-1896). Their works interpreted here by Voces Intimae are interwoven with secrets, hints and references to the relationship between the two.
The disc begins with the magnificent Trio in G minor op.17 written by Clara Schumann when she was 27 years old. Unable to travel, she was forced to cancel a piano tour and focus instead on this trio, testing her abilities in counterpoint writing after intense studies with her husband of Bach's opus. The work is obviously influenced by Schumann's music but also conveys Felix Mendelssohn's teachings in chamber music language.
Robert Schumann's Fantasiestücke in A minor op. 88 was written during his very fruitful year of 1842 and brings together four movements of different character, with the common trifold Lied form and a common melodic lyricism. In the Trio in F major op.80 of 1847 the counterpoint writing is especially displayed from the first movement, but it's in the third movement that Schumann reaches the apex of his chamber music art.
Voces Intimae's first release for Challenge was the premiere recording on period instruments of Schumann's Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 3, and it gained several international accolades, among them BBC Radio 3's "Period Instrument Choice". They have also released a 2-CD set on Challenge of Theodore Gouvy's Piano Trios, while recordings on other labels include trios by Hummel, Schubert, Mendelssohn and a selection of 19th century fantasias based on the operas of Bellini, all on period instruments.
Personnel: Riccardo Cecchetti (piano), Luigi De Filippi (violin), Sandro Meo (cello)