Unlike his predecessors Beethoven and Schubert, who visited the piano trio genre early in their careers and did not return to it, Felix Mendelssohn did not compose his two piano trios (that use the standard instrumentation) until much later in his career (Opp. 49 and 66). The result is compositions that blend Mendelssohn's pervasive youthful frivolity and mercurial playfulness with the mature compositional style marked by the occasional moments of introspection and brooding. Since their premieres in 1840 and 1845, ...
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Unlike his predecessors Beethoven and Schubert, who visited the piano trio genre early in their careers and did not return to it, Felix Mendelssohn did not compose his two piano trios (that use the standard instrumentation) until much later in his career (Opp. 49 and 66). The result is compositions that blend Mendelssohn's pervasive youthful frivolity and mercurial playfulness with the mature compositional style marked by the occasional moments of introspection and brooding. Since their premieres in 1840 and 1845, respectively, the two piano trios have secured a position as two of the most frequently performed and recorded compositions in the repertoire. This Avie disc features performances by the period instrument ensemble, the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio. Here, "period instrument ensemble" is far from synonymous with dainty, frail, or stuffy. Benvenue plays with incredible amounts of gusto, passion, far-reaching dynamics, intensity, and drive, more than even some "modern instrument ensembles" are able...
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