Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2, Sonata "Arpeggione" & Notturno

Album review

Written barely a year before his untimely death, the two piano trios of Franz Schubert are surprisingly joyous in nature, with beautiful, memorable melodies; a grand scale; and a delicacy and intimacy played out between the parts and unparalleled in his time. This Pavane Records album features the Second Trio in E flat major. The only somber moment in the trio is found in the lonely, melancholy second movement, one of Schubert's most striking examples in all of his chamber music. The album also features the A minor sonata for Arpeggione -- a bygone instrument that sought to synthesize the cello and the guitar -- which is commonly performed on the cello today, and the Op. 148 Nocturne for piano trio. Performing is the Trio Portici, which has been busy making a survey of much of the late-Classical, early-Romantic literature with Pavane. Regrettably, this installment does not find the trio's three members at their best. Intonation in the E flat Trio ranges from sloppy to poor, balance is highly inconsistent, and sound quality is disappointingly thin and echoic for a 2009 recording. The whole performance sounds much more like three individuals playing rather than a cohesive chamber ensemble. The Arpeggione Sonata fairs much worse, with cellist Luc Tooten offering unacceptable intonation, amateurishly sloppy shifts, and balance between cello and piano so off kilter that listeners must engage in a constant struggle just to discern what exactly is happening in the score. With so many superior alternatives available, listeners would be better off skipping this disc.

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