Chausson - Ravel: Trio for violin, cello and piano

Album review

Trio Metral began as a family group but has returned as three unrelated musicians (pianist Victor Metral continues as founder), shown in high-fashion photography and well-spoken in the interview-format booklet. They deliver the goods in this 2023 release, which superficially would seem a common French program, but, in fact, it requires a good deal of gear-shifting, nicely explored in the interview. The Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 3, of Ernest Chausson is an early work written under the influence of César Franck and of his German inspirations, principally Schumann. There was an indication of Chausson's talent in that an individual voice did emerge, especially in the first movement, but essentially, this is a dense work in a Germanic vein. It requires a good deal of control and precise ensemble work to keep the instruments balanced and not to let the piano overwhelm the other instruments, and Trio Metral's performance shows a good deal of work. Then the trio passes from the grand 19th century to the more constrained and worried 20th for Ravel's Piano Trio in A minor, composed in 1914 as he was about to set off for the battlefront. Ravel was a master of rhythm, but rarely did he fuse so many rhythmic strands as in this work, with its Malaysian scansion in the "Pantoum" second movement (sample this for an idea of the rhythmic liveliness of these players) and the Basque flavor of its opening movement and tense finale. The Trio Metral is positively crackling here. La Dolce Volta contributed excellent sound from the Metz Arsenal on an album that will reward repeated hearings and take the listener into the worlds the players describe. An exciting release from a young group on the rise.

© James Manheim /TiVo