Trio Gaspard – Berlin Stories: Mendelssohn, Juon, Skalkottas (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Trio Gaspard – Berlin Stories: Mendelssohn, Juon, Skalkottas (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:29 minutes | 974 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos

Berlin Stories is the first in a series to come from Trio Gaspard, all to be devoted to specific musical capitals. It is not clear how well a musical essence of the city is conveyed here. Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66, was composed in Frankfurt, although the composer had been associated with Berlin earlier in his career. The Litaniae, Op. 70, of composer Paul Juon indeed had its premiere in Berlin but, the composer said, referred to a scene he witnessed in a church in Munich, while the Acht Variationen über ein griechisches Volksthema (“Eight Variations on a Greek Folk Theme”) of Nikos Skalkottas, though first performed in Berlin, is very much part of the Viennese cultural universe of Skalkottas’ teacher, Arnold Schoenberg. However, it doesn’t matter too much how “Berlin” the pieces are; the music and the music-making are solid throughout. Mendelssohn’s C minor trio is one of the most serious and most Beethovenian things he ever wrote, and the Trio Gaspard gives it a full measure of tumult. The Juon Litaniae, which the composer termed a “tone poem,” is a post-Romantic piece with a unique evolving structure and an intense near-mysticism. The Skalkottas piece is also unique, mixing serial and tonal elements. This release has elements that will appeal to a great variety of chamber music lovers.
– James Manheim

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Trio Gaspard – Haydn: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 2 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Trio Gaspard – Haydn: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 2 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:48 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Chamber Music
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos

Described by Gramophone as ‘an album of joyous, imaginative music-making that whets the appetite for future instalments’, the first volume of Trio Gaspard’s Haydn cycle was enthusiastically received by buyers and critics alike. As in the case of that first volume, the Trio has designed a programme for the second volume that works in its own right, and features trios from all periods of Haydn’s career. Three later works (Nos 33, 35, and 45) were all composed in 1794 / 95 and contrast with the early trio No. 7, from c. 1760, whilst the trio No. 21, from the composer’s middle period, was written in 1784 / 85. As in Volume 1, Trio Gaspard chooses to end the programme with another contemporary work reflective of the programme – in this instance For Gaspard by the cellist-composer Leonid Gorokhov. The first of the two movements (a common structure in Haydn’s trios), ‘Hidden D’ (a play on the popular reference to the ‘Haydn D’ major Cello Concerto) reworks numerous themes from that piece, among many others!

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Trio Gaspard – Haydn Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 1 – Fischer one bar wonder (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Trio Gaspard – Haydn Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 1 – Fischer one bar wonder (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:28 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos

Founded in 2010, Trio Gaspard has become one of the most sought-after piano trios of its generation, whose members are praised for their unique and fresh approach to the score. The Trio is regularly invited to perform at leading concert halls throughout the world. It has an impressive history of international festival appearances, and each member also continues to pursue a successful solo career.

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