The Apollo Trio Complete Dvorak Piano Trios

简介

This recording presents four masterpieces of the chamber music literature: the piano trios of Antonín Dvorák. It is hard to imagine that a composer as famous and beloved as Dvorák could be considered to be underappreciated, but that might just be the case. His stature as one of the greatest orchestrators and colorists of all time, his success in mastering the big German models that dominated Western music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and then imaginatively translating them into the vernacular of his home country, his venture into the New World that gave him yet another “musical accent” to explore: all this points to a composer whose work must be considered among the most important, interesting and satisfying of that extraordinary period of music history. He gave the world some of the most beautiful and delightful chamber music ever written, as the persistent popularity of these works attest. This album includes the two great piano trios that are most frequently performed: The Trio in e-minor, Op. 90 (nicknamed “Dumky”) and the Trio in f-minor, Op. 65. The “Dumky” Trio is so-named because it consists of a series of six movements, each in the form of the “dumka,” which is a short form that features alternating slow and fast music, much of which is of a nostalgic nature. This unusual collection of movements serves to make the “Dumky” Trio one of the most special chamber works in the literature. There is nothing like it. The monumental Trio, Op. 65 is built on the model of Brahms’ great chamber music, but there is no mistaking it for anything other than the music of the Bohemian master. It could not have been written by anyone besides Dvorák. When Dvorák modeled another composer’s work, it was never derivative. The model was just a starting point for his endless imagination and the music is always spoken in his own distinctive voice. This lengthy and serious work is considered to be one of the greatest of all piano trios. Of particular magnificence is the slow movement (Poco adagio), a work for the ages, profound and moving. The two earlier trios, Op. 21 in B-flat and Op. 26 in g-minor, are less frequently performed than the other two, and that is a shame. They are both exquisite. They come from a period in Dvorák’s life when he was writing perhaps his most original, distinctive and experimental music. Both of these glorious pieces boast slow movements of extraordinary beauty. They are particular favorites of the Apollo Trio. As a set, the four piano trios of Antonín Dvorák are incomparable and stand with the trios of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms as pillars of the repertoire. They are original, bold, fresh and as dramatically colorful as the evening in Prague found on the cover of this beautiful album.

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