Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 10-AUG-1999

Track Listing

1. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: 1. Andante - Moderato - Poco pi� mosso
2. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: 2. Allegro con brio
3. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: 3. Largo
4. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: 4. Allegretto - Adagio
5. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 1. Pezzo elegiaco: Moderato assai - Allegro giusto - In tempo molto so
6. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto
7. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. I.
8. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. II: Pi� mosso
9. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. III: Allegro moderato
10. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. IV: L'istesso tempo (Allegro moderato)
11. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. V: L'istesso tempo
12. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. VI: Tempo di Valse
13. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. VII: Allegro moderato
14. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. VIII: Fuga (Allegro moderato)
15. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. IX: Andante flebile, ma non tanto
16. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. X: Tempo di Mazurka
17. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Var. XI: Moderato
18. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. Variazione finale e Coda: Allegretto risoluto e con fuoco
19. Piano Trio in A minor ('In Memory of a Great Artist'), Op. 50: 2. [Coda] Andante con moto - Lugubre
20. Tango Pathetique

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99648 in Music
• Brand: ARGERICH/KREMER/MAIS
• Released on: 1999-08-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Although these musicians have previously played together in duos, you aren't likely to hear the trio of Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, and Mischa Maisky every day. The friends have attempted to perform as a threesome for decades, but it took sheer luck, and a few 1998 dates in Japan, to find the acclaimed pianist, violinist, and cellist onstage together. Recorded as a tribute to Reinhard Paulsen, the late manager of Argerich and Kremer, this disc features two of chamber music's darkest pieces: Shostakovich's op. 67 and Tchaikovsky's op. 50 for piano and strings. Both composers wrote these works as elegies, and the effect of the pairing is riveting; the Shostakovich is bleak and occasionally violent (the use of Jewish melodies makes this as much a remembrance of the Holocaust as of any individual), while Tchaikovsky's epic, nearly 50-minute piece requires more patience but is even more expansive. Though the musicians haven't performed these pieces before, they have an intuitive grasp of the music--Kremer seems meant for these lyrical, personal violin passages, and Argerich is ready to unleash her fury at a moment's notice. Sonically, Maisky's cello is slightly obscured by his powerhouse peers, but he serves as a sobering backbone to these compositions. The very short tango by contemporary Peter Kiesewetter acts as an encore, a two-minute reminder that these friends know how to have fun too. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Really wonderful!! (but could be recorded better...)
I had been waiting for this CD for months and now I got it. Well, it's really fantastic how these three musicians play together with perfect inter-play, it's a very involving experience. And these trios are some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, played with a precious "russian" spirit. The only bad thing to say is that recording quality is not so good, although it's one of the last Deutsche Grammophon production. Anyway, buy it!!!!

BUY IT
Wait until you hear these recordings, you will not believe your ears. These three extraordinary artists fully understand one another and this music, otherwise how could they play it with such ferociousness yet dignity and pathos. Two masterpieces wholly realized by three of the worlds greatest musicians. To think the concert tour from which this live recording was taken almost didn't happen. Luckily for us, it did. BUY IT!

Draining performances
These live performances are from Japan. They are wholly individual, representing a synergistic combination from some of the most compelling personalities in classical music. They are alternatively fierce, despairing, exultant. It's important not to think that these works are just played for all they're worth, with every ounce of sentimentality rung out of them. That's not so. The Shostakovich is an ideal example of this. Its score is often spare to the point of gauntness, and AKM render this perfectly. But the terrifying finale is delivered with a desperate, hopeless passion, driven by loss and outrage. The Tchaikovsky is also superb. I cannot think of any performance of any work by this composer -- even Mravinsky's Pathetique -- which approaches the emotional intensity of this performance. The execution is not perfect, but details seem to assume minor importance in the face of this recreation. The return of the theme in the finale is cataclysmic in its impact. The encore is also wonderful -- a mix of whimsy and passion.