Dvorák’s two early trios are less popular than the F-minor and Dumky because they supposedly reflect a certain immaturity with respect to handling of form, idiomatic piano writing, and even characteristic melody. Nonsense. Listen to the exposition of the First Trio’s first movement: these tunes would not be out of place coming from Dvorák’s “American” period. They are lovely works, and while I don’t always see the necessity in recording complete cycles, in this case I can only welcome the exposure that these less frequently played pieces are getting. After all, it’s not as if we’re drowning in great 19th-century piano trios.
As with the first disc in this cycle, the performances by the Florestan Trio are models of sensitive chamber music playing. Balances among the three instruments are always well judged; the rhythms in the scherzos are well-sprung, while the slow movements have warmth without schmaltz. Of the two trios, the performance of the First strikes me as marginally finer than the Second in the outer movements, but this is a very subjective impression. One small caveat: violinist Anthony Marwood’s timbre in Suk’s brief Elegy, here sandwiched between the two larger works, could be more alluring above the stave. But this is a tiny drawback in what otherwise is a lovely disc, very well engineered. [2/19/2008]
