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Brahms: Complete Piano Trios / Trio Wanderer

Release Date: 07/01/2016
Label: Harmonia Mundi Catalog #: 501915/16
Composer:  Johannes Brahms Performer:  Christophe Gaugué Orchestra/Ensemble:  Wanderer Trio


Excellence abounds when it comes to the Brahms Piano Trios on disc, especially considering recent versions from Nicholas Angelich and the Capuçons (Virgin), the Florestan Trio (Hyperion), and the Abegg Trio (Tacet). To these references we now can add the Trio Wanderer, who has thoroughly digested, internalized, and transcended these scores' technical and musical challenges. So many marvelous details transpire over the course of the performances that it is difficult to know where to begin.


While some artists choose a fleet, straightforward path through the B major trio's ambitious first movement, the Wanderer members take time for the phrases to expand, contract, and Read more sing out to their fullest potential, and without rupturing continuity or any sense of a long line. By contrast, the massively textured C minor trio's first movement conveys all the heft and power it should, yet the players balance each other so that no one is swamped (the difficult to project pizzicato melodies come through loud and clear). The outer sections of Op. 87's Scherzo are articulated with astonishing suppleness and rhythmic point, as is the G minor quartet's dazzling Rondo Alla Zingarese.


To be sure, some collectors might want to investigate aforementioned cycles on the basis of couplings (Hyperion offers the Horn and Clarinet Trios). However, once you consider the vibrant immediacy of Harmonia Mundi's state-of-the-art sonics, you'll realize that this release is a lasting investment. [9/5/2006]
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com Read less