This is trio Machiavelli’s debut album and, although chamber music-centered, especially highlights pianist Claire Huangci, who already recorded fine solo albums for this label. In the dark Piano Trio by Ravel, she brings a luminous voice that works particularly well in stormy episodes of the first movement.
Though considered a particularly difficult piece technically, the long, hushed segments are no less difficult, and it takes a high level of concentration to pull them off. Here, though Huangci projects mysterious yet penetrable pianissimos, the string players don’t always hold the suspense, as in the final bars of the opening movement.
The group members are on good form in the second movement, where Ravel ingenious writing for different registers are met with superb coordination and tonal sensitivity. The slow movement is again sufficiently mysterious, yet the phrasing of the violin and cello tends to be static, and the violin’s tone lacks bite.
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The three players are at their best when playing together on the louder passages, as in the final movement, when everything somehow clicks, again showcasing Huangci’a technical command and musicality. Last year, I reviewed a fine performance of this trio by Trio Zadig (see here), which is comparable but ads an extra excitement and better execution of the string players. This is worth listening to for Claire Huangci’s performance of the piano role alone.
The second piece in this album is Chausson’s Piano Quartet from 1897, a more light-hearted work than Ravel’s. The added viola, played by Adrien Bosseau, brings an extra fullness to the sound of the group, and the second movement, with an extended viola part, seems to conjure emotional warmth from the players, and a sense they really like this music and playing together. It’s a shame that the final movement goes on too long and that the third movement, though very lovely indeed, sounds as if borrowed from another piece.
Good recording which balances the instruments well and ensures that the piano doesn’t overwhelm the other players. An overall enjoyable album that can be added to any library as a second version of the Ravel Trio, after other recommended digital recordings by the Borodin Trio, the Capuçon brothers with Frank Braley, and the more recent Zadig Trio.
Ravel – Piano Trio in A Minor
Chausson – Piano Quartet, Op. 30*
Trio Machiavelli:
Claire Huangci – Piano
Solenne Païdassi – Violin
Tristan Cornut – Cello
Adrien Bosseau – Viola*
Berlin Classics, CD 0301417BC
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