This set of Schumann's piano trios, recorded in St. Petersburg, would seem to have an odd balance among the three musicians: it is presented as an album by Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, who is pictured on the cover. Actually, though, the dialogue among the instruments is one of the performance's strong points: Gringolts' brilliant style, the grand Romantic pianism of Peter Laul, and the dry precision of cellist Dmitry Kouzov clearly define the instrumentalists' realms. The three Schumann trios, all written between 1847 ...
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This set of Schumann's piano trios, recorded in St. Petersburg, would seem to have an odd balance among the three musicians: it is presented as an album by Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, who is pictured on the cover. Actually, though, the dialogue among the instruments is one of the performance's strong points: Gringolts' brilliant style, the grand Romantic pianism of Peter Laul, and the dry precision of cellist Dmitry Kouzov clearly define the instrumentalists' realms. The three Schumann trios, all written between 1847 and 1851, differ greatly from one another and have been subject to varying critical evaluations down through the years. They are, especially the Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110, examples of the formally complex style of Schumann's last lucid years, once taken as evidence of decline but increasingly viewed as experimental. The Gringolts trio delivers clean, exciting performances of the two earlier trios, but seem to struggle to define the forms of the odd Op. 110 work. Still,...
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