Isabelle Faust / Jean-Guihen Queyras / Alexander Melnikov / Freiburger Barockorchester / Pablo Heras-Casado BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto - Piano Trio Op. 36

 

TRIPLE CONCERTO - PIANO TRIO OP. 36

 

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Sonatas for Fortepiano & violin Vol. 2

                                      SONATAS FOR FORTEPIANO & VIOLIN, VOL. 2

Alexander Melnikov SERGEI PROKOFIEV 1

To listeners who know Alexander Melnikov’s cultivated musicality and fastidious pianism – so beautifully manifest in the series of Schumann trios and concertos with Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado – his decision to record all nine Prokofiev sonatas may seem an abrupt shift of gear. Apart from an early recording of the Visions fugitives (still available as a download from Sacrambow), Melnikov’s recent traversals of the Russian literature have focused on Scriabin, Rachmaninov and of course his much-acclaimed Shostakovich (8/10, 5/12). Though resident in the West for some time now, Melnikov’s credentials as a product of the ‘Russian School’ are unmistakable. Yet these fresh, strikingly original readings of two of the ‘War Sonatas’ coupled with the early Second Sonata suggest something well beyond the canonic Russian approach to Prokofiev.

Melnikov’s performances replace brute power with pellucid textures and a kaleidoscope of brilliant colours. Grinding motoric rhythms are superseded by an infinitely calibrated kinaesthetic sense of almost terrifying intensity. Transitions of tempo occur with the natural inevitability of a living, breathing organism. The precise dimensions and shapes of Prokofiev’s structures appear in sharp focus while his musical narratives, for all their wealth of detail, unfold with undistracted purpose. In all this, Melnikov’s dazzling virtuosity is never an end in itself but the servant of his vivid imagination.

The Allegretto scherzo of the Sixth Sonata evokes the orchestral richness of the Fifth Symphony, giving way to the third movement’s slow waltz, recalling the arcing lyricism of Romeo and Juliet. Without sacrificing clarity, the toccata-like finale is breathtaking in its sheer velocity. Though the more circumspect Eighth Sonata divulges its secrets with greater reticence, Melnikov’s close reading of the score delivers a performance of searing impact.

The sound is consistent with Harmonia Mundi’s customarily high standards. Comparison with other recordings is difficult. There is something here of the mercurial imagination of Sofronitsky, as well as of Richter’s hyper-sensitivity and Gilels’s executive perfection. But ultimately, these performances are unmistakably Melnikov’s own, representing, I believe, a new level of Prokofiev interpretation. (Patrick Rucker / Gramophone )

Alexander Melnikov SERGEI PROKOFIEV 2

“This first volume in the complete cycle must already be given pride of place in the discography,” declared Classica Magazine upon the release of Prokofiev’s Sonatas nos. 2, 6, and 8 (awarded a ‘Choc’ in 2016).

With this new volume, Alexandre Melnikov has chosen to delve into three distinct periods of the composer’s career, ranging from the dazzling though seldom-heard No. 4 to the magisterial No. 9.

In between those two, the sonata no. 7 once again evokes the troubled atmosphere characteristic of the three so-called ‘war sonatas’. Sviatoslav Richter claimed to have learned the piece in a mere four days.

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin Vol. 1

The past couple of years have seen the appearance of Alina Ibragimova’s cycle of all Mozart’s music for violin and keyboard, with the pianist Cédric Tiberghien (Hyperion). Their five two-disc sets were praised almost universally and would seem set fair to become a modern benchmark for this music. Now comes Isabelle Faust with the first volume of ‘Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin’. Whether that ultimately implies an exhaustive conspectus, like Ibragimova’s, or just the later works, omitting the juvenilia, remains to be seen.

Faust and Ibragimova are similar musicians in many ways, equally adept on modern and period instruments and with an exploratory approach to everything they play. Ibragimova’s Mozart was on modern instruments; Faust, on the other hand, plays her 1704 ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Stradivari, while Alexander Melnikov’s fortepiano is a copy of a 1795 Anton Walter. The difference in sound is apparent from the very first note of the D major Sonata, K306: a simple tune in thirds in the piano right hand over an Alberti-style left hand with the violin doubling, an octave higher, the implied bass line. The separation between instruments – the violin accompanying the keyboard here – is clearly demarcated between Ibragimova and Tiberghien, while the greater similarity of tone between Faust’s sparkling violin and Melnikov’s glittering fortepiano (within an airier acoustic) results in a sound more akin to the jingling of small bells. It’s delicious.

This is domestic music, and the instruments of the day were scaled to such private performances. Modern instruments are designed to project, and Ibragimova and Tiberghien’s readings were conceived to do just that: first in the Wigmore Hall, where they performed this cycle, then at the concert hall of the Wyastone Estate in Monmouth, their recording venue. Two contrasting conceptions of the same music.

Ibragimova’s evenness and fullness of tone contrasts with Faust’s range of dynamics, especially at low levels – there are some breathtaking pianissimos that whisper so confidingly that the voice almost cracks. And repeated-note figures, in the finale of K306, say, draw a huge tonal variety from Faust’s Strad. Melnikov’s piano, too, can ring, roar or gently croon, making some beguiling sounds in the Schubertian hymn of K304’s second movement.

Comparing the same sonatas in the two recordings has been instructive but has not made it any easier to decide whether either is more valid, whether one is preferable to the other. Each has satisfied in its own ways, making a simple choice between one or the other invidious. Nevertheless, for those attuned to the less refined sound of period instruments, Faust and Melnikov demand to be heard. (David Threasher / Gramophone)

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov / Salagon Quartet CÉSAR FRANCK Sonate pour Piano et Violon ERNEST CHAUSSON Concert

Chausson’s Concert for violin, piano and string quartet is chamber music, of course, yet displays a symphonic character that justifies the title. Some performances, such as the superb Decca recording by Pierre Amoyal, Pascal Rogé and the Ysaÿe Quartet, underscore the work’s quasi-orchestral heft; others, like the classic Columbia account by Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus and the Guilet Quartet, present a more intimate view. In this dazzling new version, Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov and the Salagon Quartet seem to be staking out a middle ground.

Faust and the quartet use vibrato rather sparingly, which clarifies the often intricate texture and creates a luminosity that, while lacking in bite and body, conjures and maintains a spellbinding, moonlit atmosphere. Note, for example, the pearlescent opacity of the passage at 6'26" in the first movement, and the almost spectral quality at the beginning of the finale – worlds away from the playful (yet equally magical) reading by Francescatti, Casadesus et al. Yet there’s no lack of drama. Indeed, Faust, Melnikov and the Salagon frequently bring Chausson’s fascination with Wagner to the fore and even anticipate the languorous sensuality of Scriabin (listen from 4'35" in the first movement), thanks in large part to Melnikov’s judicious phrasing.

Franck’s Violin Sonata is equally impressive. Here, again, Faust uses vibrato prudently, and in general finds intense expressivity in restraint and emotional directness. Pianissimo passages beckon in secretive, confessional whispers, and the sometimes blunt rhetoric of Franck’s style is allowed to speak for itself without overemphasis or apology. The electricity of the third-movement Recitativo-Fantasia, for instance, is conveyed not with bold gestures but through quiet, sustained tension, so that even the most sparsely textured passage keeps one on the seat’s edge. Melnikov’s tone can harden in loud passages, but this may be partly the fault of the engineering, which is pleasingly resonant yet also strangely muffled. In any case, the interpretations are so committed and forthright that any occasional sonic blemish is only momentarily distracting. The Decca recording with Amoyal and Rogé offers the same coupling in better sound but seems overwrought in comparison. Those looking for greater passion and tonal warmth in this repertoire are urged to hear a recent Aparté release with Rachel Kolly d’Alba, Christian Chamorel and the Chicago-based Spektral Quartet. (Andrew Farach-Colton/ Gramophone)

Isabelle Faust ROBERT SCHUMANN

Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov begin their project to record all of Schumann’s concertos and piano trios using gut strings and a piano of Schumann’s time (a Streicher of 1847) with the most challenging two works of all. The tangled performance history of the Violin Concerto is well enough known by now – written in 1853 for Joseph Joachim to play, it was suppressed after Schumann’s death and not performed in public until the 1930s. Performances have remained sporadic though, and as Faust’s shows, even the finest violinists (and she is one of the very best around today) still struggle to make convincing sense of some passages, especially in the rather stop-start opening movement; there are moments here when the usually nimble Freiburg Baroque Orchestra sounds as if it is having to wade through musical treacle. Composed two years before, the G minor Piano Trio isn’t top-drawer Schumann either, especially when compared with the two earlier trios, but Faust and her colleagues have the knack of teasing out its lyrical beauties and giving all the music real lightness and transparency.

Alexander Melnikov ROBERT SCHUMANN

This is the second in a three-part series exploring Schumann’s concertos and piano trios on gut strings and a period piano, and as the slightly creepy cover photo spells out – shadows of violinist Isabelle Faust and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras flank Alexander Melnikov like lurking henchmen – it is the pianist’s turn to shine. Melnikov is a steely player with plenty of ideas and charisma, but even in the finessed company of the Freiburg Baroque and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, his bracing account of the Piano Concerto is hard to love. The first moment opens with a dry punch and hurtles ahead hell-for-leather; the second movement is breezy and borderline trite, and the finale digs in its heels with laboured earthiness and a self-conscious ping at the top of each phrase. All affectations evaporate in the Trio, though, where Faust’s sound is so silvery and expressive, so simultaneously commanding and questioning, that she risks blowing the rest of the disc out of the water. (The Guardian)

Jean-Guihen Queyras ROBERT SCHUMANN

The idea for this CD project arose during a tour on which we performed Robert Schumann’s Trio op.80. As passionate admirers of the composer, we conceived the desire to place his works for piano, violin, and cello in a broader context and to illuminate them mutually in order to allow listeners to gain a deeper understanding of his music. We soon agreed to play the pieces for this recording on a historical piano and stringed instruments with gut strings, using orchestral forces to match. Thanks to this, we expected our playing to be better balanced, better articulated, and more open-minded. 

Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester sprang spontaneously to mind as the ideal partners for a project of this kind. And indeed they took up our idea enthusiastically and were keen and irreplaceable fellow-conspirators in the world of Schumann. 

Our shared journey into the magical world of this incomparable composer will remain with us as an exceptionally intense, happy, and fulfilling experience. (Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov / Jean-Guihen Queyras)

Alexander Melnikov FOUR PIANOS FOUR PIECES

Alexander Melnikov has already made a number of recordings of chamber music using historic pianos – Beethoven piano trios on an instrument made by Alois Graff in the 1820s, Schumann on a Streicher of 20 years later – and his latest disc extends those explorations into the solo repertoire, with a different piano for each of the four works he plays. So we hear the Wanderer Fantasy played on that same, beautifully restored Graff, made in Vienna around the time of Schubert’s death and now part of Melnikov’s own collection, while he uses an 1837 Érard for Chopin’s Op 10 Studies and an 1875 Bösendorfer for Liszt’s Reminiscences of Don Juan, before opting for a modern Steinway for the Three Movements from Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

Melnikov played the same programme at the Wigmore Hall in London earlier in the month, though using three different pianos rather than the four here, and the results on disc seem more convincing – less cluttered and congested – than they were in the concert hall. He makes good use of the tonal differences between registers on the Graff in the Wanderer Fantasy and exploits the light touch of the Érard to brilliant effect in the more bravura Chopin studies, while the Bösendorfer (missing from the London recital) produces a leaner sound than the maker’s later instruments. It’s odd that Melnikov uses a Steinway for his dashing performance of the Stravinsky; surely in this context a French piano from the beginning of the 20th century – a Pleyel, say – would have been more appropriate? Even with that opportunity missed, though, this is still a really rewarding disc that’s well worth investigating. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)

Alexander Melnikov / Isabelle Faust SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concertos - Sonata for Violin & Piano Op. 34

The programming of this recording by Alexander Melnikov seems to be no accident. The two large, witty, outward-looking piano concertos surround the more grave, inward-facing Violin Sonata the way a sonata's or concerto's two fast movements surround a slow movement. It's also a real reflection of Melnikov as a performer, schooled in the Russian tradition and mentored by Richter (the pianist of the first public performance of the Violin Sonata), who is as comfortable as a soloist as he is as a collaborative pianist playing chamber music. In that regard, Melnikov and Faust make their parts of the sonata equal partners in the music, bringing out the smallest details. It is generally held that the sonata is about death, and these two handle it with intensity and seriousness, but do not make it grim or frightful. In the concertos, Melnikov and conductor Teodor Currentzis are also well matched. In the slow movements, especially of the Concerto No. 2, Melnikov's touch is so soft and phrasing so lyrical as to give the music a sweetness normally associated with a Rachmaninov or Ravel concerto, and Currentzis follows his lead. The animation in the fast movements, where Shostakovich likes to use rapidly repeated notes, is not pointedly sharp, but is impressive and extremely engaging nonetheless. The finale of Concerto No. 1, when everyone -- including the very precise trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts -- gets going together is almost precipitously exciting. Yet it is Melnikov's sensitivity of touch that distinguishes his performance of these works from others'. (Patsy Morita)

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov CARL MARIA VON WEBER Sonatas for Piano & Violin - Piano Quartet

The unjustly neglected piano quartet (J76) was completed in September of the year 1809, which the 22-year-old Weber spent in Stuttgart. It was originally offered to the publisher Hans Georg Nägeli, but he rejected it, advising the composer that it created wanton ‘confusion in the arrangement of its ideas’ and indeed too obviously imitated the ‘bizarreries’ of Beethoven. However, the work was issued a year later by the Bonn firm of Beethoven’s friend and admirer Nikolaus Simrock, whose ears were more receptive to the peculiarities of the score than Nägeli. And in the following year, 1811, Simrock once again stepped into the breach in the matter of the publication of the Six Violin Sonatas (J99–104). These were written to a tight deadline in the late summer of 1810, on commission from the Offenbach publisher Johann Anton André, who had in mind a collection of short pieces of moderate difficulty for the domestic music-making of the upper middle classes. Unhappy with the concomitant artistic limitations, Weber took the commission only half-heartedly and repeatedly complained during the compositional process of this ‘swine of a job’, which cost him ‘more sweat than the same number of symphonies’. His annoyance was all the greater when André rejected the finished work out of hand because it did not correspond to his expectations. When Simrock finally published these pieces in Bonn in two instalments under the title 'Progressive sonatas for fortepiano with obbligato violin, composed for and dedicated to amateur musicians', with the opus number 10, Weber had only remotely followed André’s specifications. It is true that the technical demands on the performers, especially the violin, are fairly modest, but in terms of content the 6 short two- or three-movement sonatinas far outstrip mere pedagogical intentions.They were written to please amateurs, but quite as much to satisfy connoisseurs of any era. Isabelle Faust follows up the success of recent recordings for hm [Bach volume 2, Berg and Beethoven with Claudio Abbado] with regular partner Alexander Melnikov and her brother Boris, currently principal viola of the Bremer Philharmoniker, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt of whom Mstislav Rostropovich has said: ‘Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt is one of the leading cellists of his generation, of our time’.

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov BEETHOVEN Complete Sonatas for Piano & Violin

These are the most stimulating and fascinating accounts of the Beethoven violin sonatas I have heard in many years. Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov bring out the full quirkiness of the earlier works as well as their beauty, and their playing is remarkably accomplished throughout. Faust reflects the Viennese taste in Beethoven’s day for light, strongly articulated bowing, much of it ‘off-the-string’, with sparing vibrato.

Particularly fine is their account of the profoundly original last sonata, Op. 96. Melnikov and Faust allow its opening movement to unfold in leisurely fashion, and in an atmosphere of hushed lyricism, though their decision to append a ‘turn’ to the ubiquitous trill that forms such an integral part of the main subject’s melodic line may not be to everyone’s taste.

As for the Kreutzer Sonata, their performance of the opening movement contains a welcome detail that’s seldom heard. Shortly after the start of the presto main section the music’s momentum is momentarily halted by two fermatas (notated pauses), the second of which is filled in here with an improvisatory flurry of arpeggios from the piano.

When Beethoven himself rehearsed the piece with George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, the violinist for whom he originally wrote it, Bridgetower took it upon himself to imitate the piano when the same point was reached in the repeat, to Beethoven’s apparent delight. Bridgetower subsequently wrote down his improvisation in his copy of the printed violin part, and Isabelle Faust incorporates it into her performance.

I’m not so sure, however, that Beethoven would necessarily have approved of the occasional spontaneous change Faust and Alexander Melnikov make to some of the other sonatas: a few little melodic ornaments and alterations, the occasional exaggerated pause between phrases, the mannerism of ‘rolled’ left-hand piano chords, the reversal of dynamics in the repeats.

But nonetheless these stimulating performances demand to be heard. (Misha Donat / BBC Music Magazine)

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov SCHUBERT Sonate D.574 - Rondo op. 70 - Fantasie D.934

In nearly every respect this is outstanding. The Rondo brillant and the Fantasie, both written for the virtuoso duo of Karl von Bocklet and Josef Slawik, can sound as if Schubert were striving for a brilliant, flashy style, foreign to his nature. Both are in places uncomfortable to play (when first published, the Fantasie’s violin part was simplified), but you would never guess this from Faust’s and Melnikov’s performance; they both nonchalantly toss off any problem passages as though child’s play.

The Fantasie’s finale and the Rondo brillant are irresistibly lively and spirited, and this duo’s technical finesse extends to more poetic episodes – Melnikov’s tremolo at the start of the Fantasie shimmers delicately, while the filigree passagework in the last of the variations that form the Fantasie’s centrepiece have a delightful poise and sense of ease.

The Sonata’s more intimate style is captured just as convincingly; in all three performances Faust and Melnikov observe Schubert’s often very detailed, careful expression marks, not as a matter of duty but as a stimulus to the imagination, as a way of entering more deeply into the music.

The one slight reservation concerns Isabelle Faust’s manner of expression. She makes the most of any passionate phrases and is equally convincing at cool, mysterious or dreamlike moments. But the lyrical phrases in the Rondo’s introduction surely demand a more heartfelt utterance. In the Sonata, too, there are places where one longs for more warmth. This quibble aside, it’s a lovely disc, one to listen to over and over again. (Gramophone)

Alexander Melnikov PAUL HINDEMITH Sonatas for...

If there is a Cinderella among Hindemith’s three dozen(ish) sonatas, it’s not that for double bass, tuba, or even the Canonic Sonatina for two flutes, but the Sonata for althorn (1943). A tenor instrument, known in the US as the alto horn, it is so rare that Hindemith accepted his sonata could be played on the horn or alto saxophone. It is a delightful work for a delightful instrument, beautifully rendered here. 

Melnikov’s role parallels that of Glenn Gould but his accounts are less wayward than the Canadian’s, his soloists generally stronger. Indeed, in most of the sonatas, the primary competition comes from one-off recordings (now that Ensemble Villa Musica’s almost-complete sonata set, with pianist Kalle Randalu, is unavailable). On BIS, Roland Pöntinen is accompanist for three rival accounts. In the 1935 Violin Sonata, Wallin may now have been overtaken by Zimmermann, Becker-Bender and now Isabelle Faust but choice will depend primarily on couplings since the margins between these contenders is so fine. 

So, too, with the others, though Wendy Warner remains peerless in the Cello Sonata despite a fine challenger here from Rudin. I would not want to be without Lindberg’s Trombone Sonata, though BIS’s sound is a tad over-resonant. Costes’s superb interpretation is the finest since Antonsen’s, accompanied by Sawallisch (EMI – sadly nla), and certainly a match for Laubin’s. I prefer Costes to Tine Thing Helseth’s driven account with Kathryn Stott, in a comparatively fierce recording. In short then, this is a magnificent disc, with leading or contending versions of all the works in terrific, beautifully balanced Harmonia Mundi sound. Let’s hope Melnikov & Co return to record some more. (Gramophone)

Tharaud plays RACHMANINOV

French pianist Alexandre Tharaud takes on the blockbuster 'Rach 2' concerto in a thrilling performance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Russian maestro Alexander Vedernikov. It is coupled with more intimate Rachmaninov for piano six-hands (for which Alexandre is flanked by Alexander Melnikov and Aleksandar Madžar) and the icing on the cake: a sublime Vocalise in the original version for voice and piano, with pure-voiced French soprano Sabine Devieilhe. 

Alexandre Tharaud's recorded catalogue is large and eclectic, but this is the first time he has devoted an entire album to Russian repertoire – specifically to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. 'I was still quite young when I first played this concerto' explains Tharaud. 'I adored it... Rachmaninov's virtuosity really appeals to young pianists. Today, of course I'm still enthralled by the concerto's virtuosity, but now I'm more interested in its dark shadows: the sense of despair, of staring into the abyss. My interpretation of Rachmaninov has changed a lot over the years.' (Warner Classics)

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov / Jirí Belohlávek / The Prague Philharmonia BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto - Kreutzer Sonata

Beethoven described his Kreutzer Sonata as being written ‘in a very concertante style, more like that of a concerto,’ so it makes an apt companion-piece for his actual Violin Concerto. Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov give a bold, sweeping performance with a real sense of spontaneity, and Harmonia Mundi’s engineers have done them proud. Both players find an extra ounce of intensity in the repeats, though it’s a pity Melnikov takes it upon himself to add a decorative twirl to Beethoven’s deliberately plain repeated chords in the interjections where the finale’s tarantella rhythm suddenly changes – a tiny lapse in taste that isn’t shared by Faust in the violin’s answering phrases. If the Violin Concerto fares less well, it’s largely on account of the rather faceless contribution from the Prague Philharmonic and Jirí Belohlávek. Their opening tutti is so metronomic that Faust’s very free first entry comes as a shock; and in the slow movement Belohlávek irons out the main theme’s ‘dotted’ rhythm, diminishing its essential expressive character. The CD booklet is silent on the subject of cadenzas, but like a few other players – among them Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Thomas Zehetmair and Gidon Kremer – Faust has adapted the ones Beethoven himself provided when he hurriedly rewrote the work as a piano concerto. All such versions of the first-movement cadenza feature the timpani, but only Kremer bizarrely has an off-stage piano in addition. The Schneiderhan and Zehetmair performances are still among the best around, with the latter offering a compellingly coherent view of the often over-relaxed opening movement.  (Misha Donat)

Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov BRAHMS Violin Sonatas op. 100 & 108

This disc, recorded in 2014, completes the whole set of the three Brahms violin sonatas played by Faust and Melnikov. The first sonata, previously issued, is coupled with the Brahms trio and his Op 116 Fantasias for piano. This inevitably makes for difficulties for collectors as the main alternatives for the violin sonatas couple all three on one disc.

This disc also comes with unusual couplings which are the Schumann Three Romances which were published for either violin and piano or oboe and piano. These are very attractive pieces of vintage Schumann inspiration in a particularly gentle and song-like mode. The song-like nature of the music particularly suits the oboe, a wind instrument which phrases like a singer. There is a famous and superb version of these three pieces for oboe played by Holliger and Brendel as part of a Schumann disc of supreme quality. However, Faust and Melnikov make a strong case for the violin version with all the appropriate empathetic phrasing and tonal response.

At this point it is worthwhile to mention that the Faust disc features Melnikov's own Bosendorfer piano from 1875 and Faust’s Stradivarius violin which makes this disc qualify for ‘period’ status. The piano tone and dynamics are far more in line with modern pianos than might be expected and is far fuller than those used for period performances of music of an earlier date. No hint of woodenness’ or shallow tonal response for example and far greater dynamic range by this time. This disc will not cause concern for those interested in a modern instrument sound and who will be more likely to be mildly intrigued by the sound presented here.

Alexander Melnikov / Isabelle Faust / Jean-Guihen Queyras LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Trios Op. 70 No. 2 & Op. 97

Beethoven’s first published works—his Opus No.1—were three trios for piano, violin and cello and already they show a marked advance on Haydn’s trios in the comparative interdependence of the three parts. Their freedom from Haydn’s oppressive formality looks forward to the first mature trios, the pair that comprises Opus 70, displaying all sorts of harmonic twists, thematic innovations and structural idiosyncrasies, these trios make much of the piano part and contain plenty of dramatic outbursts that are typical of Beethoven’s middle period. Even more arresting is the first of the Opus 70 trios (1808) nicknamed ”The Ghost” because of its mysterious and haunting Largo. Its sibling boasts a cheerful bombastic finale that is the most entertaining music that Beethoven composed for this combination of instruments. 

The “Archduke” Trio Opus 97 (1811) was Beethoven’s last full – scale work for piano trio and is typically conclusive. The third movement is its centre of gravity, a highly moving set of variations with the cello dominating the thematic content. It opens with a hymn-like theme and progresses to a coda which magnificently sums up the movements ideas. The finale might be less powerful than that of Opus 70 No. 2, but it nevertheless has a sweeping rhythmic power. Again, it is beyond the shadow of a doubt that Beethoven defined the piano trio form that it retained throughout the 19th century by allowing the string instruments the status of genuinely equal partners in this superlative performance. This is clear from the performances of pianist Alexander Melnikov, violinist Isabelle Faust and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras present Beethoven’s last two works in the genre—Opus 70, No. 2, dedicated to Countess Marie Erdödy and the celebrated ”Archduke” that also marked the final public appearance of its composer. 

 Ms. Faust and Mr. Queyras as well as Mr. Melnikov reach into the depths of their individual and collective souls to find the spectacular tone textures that Beethoven had intended. They bring these forth with breathtaking motifs and heart-stopping melismas once again showing that interpretation requires genius enough to inhabit the skin of the composer in order to find the right balance between a perfect reading of the score and emotion that is over and beyond that the text might even suggest despite specific diacritical remarks by the composer. This is a wonderful recording indeed. (WMR)

Jean-Guihen Queyras / Alexander Melnikov LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Complete Works for Violoncello & Piano

Two regular Harmonia Mundi artists here join forces for fascinating, polished performances of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano, embracing the five sonatas and the three sets of variations – on Mozart’s “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” Op 66, on Handel’s “See the Conqu’ring Hero Comes” WoO45 and on Mozart’s “Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen” WoO46. Both Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov have made distinguished recordings on their own, but they have also collaborated before on chamber music by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorák and Weber, Melnikov having also played the Beethoven violin sonatas with Isabelle Faust.

The fact of their having worked together previously shines through in the instant rapport of the opening work of the first disc, the “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” variations. The playing is as clear as a bell, spirited, poised and as bold as the music itself. Some might find that the bleached tone that Queyras adopts in some exposed moments is an obtrusive factor. On the other hand, there are those who will say that this sparse vibrato goes with the historical territory, so it all remains a matter of taste – a quality that Queyras and Melnikov have in abundance.

In the Handel variations, and in the more or less contemporaneous two sonatas of Op 5 that Beethoven dedicated to Frederick William II of Prussia in the late 1790s, Queyras seems not to go so determinedly for that pallid timbre, and the result is that the performances combine a spectrum of tonal warmth with an exhilarating thrust of momentum, unanimity in matters of phrasing, dynamic shading and expressive detail and, altogether, a compelling, energised interpretative plan.

The second disc contains the A major Sonata Op 69, the two sonatas of Op 102 together with the “Bei Männern” variations. Here the two instruments are even more emancipated than in the earlier Op 5 sonatas, independent of line and yet united in expressive purpose.

The playing here combines breadth and urgency with, for example, a touching tenderness in the simplicity of the slow introduction to the C major Sonata Op 102 No 1 of 1815, shattered by Queyras’s and Melnikov’s muscular drive in the ensuing Allegro.
It all adds up to a valuable set for admirers both of Queyras and Melnikov, and of Beethoven. (Geoffrey Norris)