Brahms: Piano Trios

Album review

Like every other genre for which Brahms composed, his self-criticism and constant worry about the worthiness of his scores extended into his piano trios. His first attempt at a trio was published as his Op. 8 in 1854, a surprisingly early and youthful contribution. Nearly three decades later, Brahms had the opportunity to revise the B major Trio, Op. 8, when he changed publishers; the changes are sweeping but produced the trio we are familiar with today, making it a really mature composition despite its low opus number. Besides the Op. 87 Trio in C major and the Op. 101 Trio in C minor, there exists a fourth Trio in A major that has been ascribed to Brahms' pen, although it seems to lack the same authoritativeness and depth as the three trios Brahms himself published during his lifetime. This CPO album features the Eskar Trio, a young ensemble founded in Denmark in 1994. The group's 2007-2008 recordings of the complete trios bear many hallmarks of youth, most notably driven, forward-moving tempos that have the occasional tendency to border on rushing. The trio's three members play with a vigorous, intense sound that, while well in tune, sounds more like three individual players rather than a cohesive ensemble. This individual independence is noticeable when it comes to rubato and tempo changes, which are not entirely seamless or unified.
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