Haydn's piano trios aren't terribly often played in comparison with his instrumental works in other genres, and the general line on them has been that they are simple Hausmusik with violin and cello lines that may be omitted if desired. The Gaspard Trio, which has embarked on a complete cycle of Haydn's trios (this is the second installment), strenuously disputes this idea, and the group's playing seems designed to bring out the independence of the stringed instruments where it occurs. Perhaps the best way to look at the question is that Haydn is the true creator of the keyboard trio, and his output in the genre offers a fascinating look into his mind as he realized its possibilities. Rather than plow through the trios chronologically, the Gaspard Trio, playing modern instruments, chooses to make each volume in the series an independent release, containing music from various phases of Haydn's career, and here the group lands on three works from the mid-1790s. In these works, which Beethoven certainly would have known, the trio is indeed made up of three equal instruments, and the Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. 15/29, is one of those Haydn works that seem to look forward to Romanticism. The Gaspard Trio gives it a warm, relaxed performance that's quite appealing, and in general, the group's Haydn is sympathetic and alert to little turns of humor or unexpected formal detail, although they apply improvised, non-notated ornaments that will be to the taste of some listeners but not others. Despite the Gaspard's belief in the importance of these works, the group does not try to put them on the plane of Haydn's quartets, which is all to the good; there is a lightness in the performances that is just right. The early Piano Trio in G major, Hob. 15/41, only occasionally assigns primary material to the violin; by the middle-period Piano Trio in B flat major, Hob. 15/8, Haydn was experimenting all over the place with the emancipation of the violin and cello. Another intriguing feature of the Gaspard Trio's series is that each volume has (and apparently will have) a newly commissioned work that comments on Haydn in some way; the one here, by the cellist-composer, Leonid Gorokhov, is intriguing. There is plenty here to make listeners look forward to what is going to be a substantial series; Haydn composed 45 piano trios. © James Manheim /TiVo

Fresh from their latest accolade as winners of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, the critically lauded Dudok Quartet Amsterdam embarks on a new project dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn’s six Op. 20 String Quartets. This first installment of two volumes sees the quartet explore the C major, G minor and F minor quartets. With some of the most celebrated works from the quartet repertoire, the Dudok Quartet relish delving into the monumental and dramatic gestures within Haydn’s highly developed rhetorical style. © Resonus

It’s in a small comic filled with self-derision that the Modigliani Quartet describe their background, from the founding of the quartet in 2003 to its beginnings at the Berliner Philharmonie in 2017: First Prize Winners of the Young Concert Artists in New York, which opened the doors of the Carnegie Hall to them in 2006, Grand Prix Winners of Académie Charles Cros two years later with Haydn, artistic directors of the Evian Festival in 2014… An impressive and international pedigree for this quartet originally founded by four students of the Conservatoire de Paris keen to try their hands on the greatest chamber music repertoire. This new recording of the sole three quartets of Schumann, works created in one go in 1842 – two years after 1840, “the year of the Lied”, and one year before the two chamber masterpieces that are the Piano Quartet and the Piano Quintet. It’s true that in these quartets, Schumann doesn’t stray too far from Beethoven and even less from Mendelssohn (posthumously dedicatee), maybe the consequence of an inevitably more linear and contrapuntal writing, not as harmonic as the addition of a piano would allow. The fact remains that the Modiglianis capture these three singular works and restore their lines rather than looking for a dense, symphonic and pianistic texture that is not theirs. © SM/Qobuz

Revered since the height of the Classical era up to the simmering years of the 20th century, the string quartet represented an ideal genre to which composers entrusted their most innovative ideas. The Modigliani Quartet illuminates these brillant masterpieces, each bearing witness to a turning point in the lives of their authors. Brimming with poetry, audacity and a thirst for life, the singular narratives of these quartets herald the advent of new horizons. © Mirare

Brahms' only Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, had a turbulent history before finally taking its rightful place as one of the composer's most sublime chamber works. The quintet began its life as a string quintet; pressure coming from Brahms' friends eventually saw the string quintet's score destroyed in place of a sonata for two pianos. Though Brahms was fond of this version, further suggestions found hard at work on a third and final change in instrumentation, which resulted in the work we know today. At only 31 years of age, the sophistication found in this score is nothing short of profound. Brahms varies the voicing to achieve a nearly symphonic sound on one end and a tenderly intimate chamber feeling on the other. Tackling this robust score is the Quatuor Modigliani joined by pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger on this Mirare album. Like Brahms at the time of composition, Modigliani is a young ensemble. Some of its choices -- particularly tempo selection in the Finale -- reflect the impetuousness of youth. But Brahms, too, was no less impulsive at the time, so perhaps the edgy, quick-paced, driven playing Modigliani and Neuburger bring is altogether appropriate here. The technical skills are highly refined, and the group is successful in capturing the meaty, full orchestral sound that Brahms relies on throughout the score. This disc also includes a less-often performed chamber work dating 20 years after the quintet: the Op. 91 Two Songs for mezzo soprano, viola, and piano. Andrea Hill's voice here is as rich and sultry as violist Laurent Marfaing. Together they offer listeners a moving, intimate reading of this overlooked example of Brahms' mature vocal writing. © TiVo

This recording landed on classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023, and several factors combined to place it there. One is the sensitive ensemble work throughout from the trio of violinist Veronika Jarůšková, cellist Peter Jarůšek, and pianist Boris Giltburg. Jarůšková and Jarůšek are members of the fine Pavel Haas Quartet, but the trio, as such, is quite new, and Giltburg, moreover, is better known for virtuoso repertory than for chamber music. One would never know it from the seamlessly executed conceptions and transitions, with Giltburg in no way spilling out of the texture. Another factor is the presence of the first two Dvořák trios, early but by no means immature works. Recordings of them are not common, but hear the absolutely characteristic opening of the Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 21, with its pentatonic melody; handled as sensitively as it is here by Jarůšková, the work is the equal of any of the later trios. Lastly, there is the fresh reading of the Piano Trio, Op. 90 ("Dumky"), one of Dvořák's most popular works. Several movements receive interesting interpretations. Consider the beginning, where the Lento maestoso designation is applied to the movement as a whole, with the opening chords kept consistent in tempo with what follows. This diverts the emotional center to the beautifully sad counterpoint between the cello and violin as the movement continues. The sound from the Wyastone Estate is warm but a bit close up, one of few complaints, and this is a major chamber music release that will yield a great deal of satisfying listening.© James Manheim /TiVo

Constantly shifting from the most impulsive exuberance to the most restrained meditation, from the most intense passion to the most innocent tenderness, this programme forms a representative panorama of Schumann’s chamber music. Going beyond the Piano Trios, which already give us a fully rounded account of Schumann, the Trio Wanderer have invited their favourite partners to join them for their interpretation of two supreme masterpieces, the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet. © harmonia mundi

Pianist Rafał Blechacz came on the scene when he made a clean sweep of the prizes at the 2005 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. He has gone on to record a variety of repertory, but it would seem that Chopin is still closest to his heart. Blechacz has emerged as the arch-Romantic in Deutsche Grammophon's stable, with plenty of power and a fine touch in the big, dramatic gesture. Here, in Chopin's two piano sonatas, he does all that and more: he combines the Romantic pianism with structural insight. In the piano sonatas, Chopin did not simply slap the sonata label onto sequences of four character pieces; these are true sonatas, with contrasting first and second subjects and a kind of thematic development. Blechacz, in the interview-like notes, alludes to the problem of balancing this Classical element with the stormy Chopin all know and love, and it must be said that his solutions are impressive indeed. One could drop the laser almost anywhere, but consider the famed "Funeral March" from the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35, where he enters quietly and gloomily, saving the fireworks for the big D flat major theme. The march rhythm is still there, but in Blechacz's hands, this material becomes a true second subject. In general, Blechacz draws large contrasts between sections, but these are never done for pure effect. An unusually satisfying recording of these well-known works, with excellent Teldec Studio sound, this appeared on classical best-seller charts in early 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

When I can’t be the only one who has the Pavel Haas Quartet’s magnificent Dvořák quintets collaboration with Boris Giltburg and Pavel Nikl still ringing in my ears (and indeed making repeat returns to my stereo), I equally can’t be the only one whose heart is beating faster upon first sight of this Brahms-shaped reunion for them. So, to all of you for whom the above does indeed apply, know that these readings will if anything exceed your already-high expectations. First up is the Op. 34 Piano Quintet in dark F minor, an early-career work which began life in 1862 as a string quintet with two cellos, channelling Schubert’s great C major String Quintet, but which ultimately – at the suggestion of both Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim – needed a second look. In 1864, therefore, Brahms reworked the original to create both a sonata for two pianos and this piano quartet – drawing from Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, while also still very audibly paying homage to the Schubert Quintet, heard especially clearly at the close of the Scherzo via its final C being preceded by a dramatic D-flat. As for the Pavel Haas Quartet and Boris Giltburg, think multi-timbred, metrically fleet-footed, heart-filled playing, spanning the dynamic range, which thoroughly realises both the work’s turbulent passion and its highly symphonic feel, with the ability to switch the emotional dial in a heartbeat. Highlights include an absolute blinder of a Scherzo for the conviction of its emotional extremes, and at its most high-octane moments the rhythmic drive and spring of their attack, and the overall sound’s satisfyingly powerful, woody thwack. Then next we jump to 1890 and to the Op. 111 two-viola String Quintet in G major Brahms is said to have initially intended as his last musical work, its language thus nodding to his musical life’s influences – from Beethoven to Schubert, and from waltzing Johann Strauss to Wagner, with further colour by way of the Hungarian motifs he loved to pepper his work with. And again, it’s a rare treat to have such a sensation of unbridled freedom and singing exuberance at the music’s most impassioned climaxes as we have here. Equally affecting are the moments where the music suddenly retreats into whispers either sweetly tender or darkly tragic (head to the first movement for some beauty). There’s also the delicious rhythmic swing of their dance impetus when things get folky. Essentially, don’t hesitate. This is an album for life. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz