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ALYABIEV Piano Trios: in EI; in a. GLINKA Trio pathétique in d. ANTON RUBINSTEIN Piano Trio in g, op. 15/2 * Brahms Tr * NAXOS 8.574112 (76:00)
Not to be confused with the Vienna Brahms Trio or the two Brahms Trios consisting of German and Italian musicians respectively, this Brahms Trio is composed of pianist Natalia Rubinstein, violinist Nikolai Sachenko, and cellist Kirill Rodin, three Russian musicians who are graduates of the Moscow Conservatory and who, unlike many such graduates in recent decades, have remained headquartered in their home country. In addition to their work with this trio, they have performed as soloists and with other ensembles. They are now embarked on a series on the Naxos label entitled History of the Russian Piano Trio, of which this release is Volume I. The second volume, including works by Tchaikovsky and Pavel Pabst, has also already been recorded.
The music on the present release belongs to an early period in the development of Russian classical music, prior to its full flowering later in the 19th century with Tchaikovsky and the composers of the Mighty Handful. Aleksandr Alyabiev (1787-1851) has been known mainly as a composer of songs, and of one in particular, "Solovei" (The Nightingale), but that may be starting to change. More of his instrumental works seem to be finding their way onto recordings, and this is the second recording of his A-Minor Trio and the third recording of his chamber music to come my way for review during the past year. This disc also includes his single-movement Trio in EI Major, dating from 1815, when he was serving as an officer in the Russian army. The work may or may not be unfinished, since it is not known whether the composer intended it as the first of several movements. It has been recorded at least once before, by the Beethoven Trio Bonn (CAvi), on a disc devoted entirely to Alyabiev's chamber music that was favorably reviewed by Mark Novak in 40:5, but that appears to have been deleted. The single movement, in sonata-allegro form, is of substantial size, lasting 10 to 12 minutes in the two performances at hand. Although written in a European Classical style suggestive of Mozart, early Beethoven, or early Schubert,...