Maurice Ravel; Ernest Chausson - Piano Trio & Quartet (Trio Machiavelli)

Information

Composer: Maurice Ravel; Ernest Chausson

• Ravel - Piano Trio in A minor
• Chausson - Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 30

Trio Machiavelli

Claire Huangci, piano

Solenne Païdassi, violin

Tristan Cornut, cello

&

Adrien Boisseau, viola

Date: 2020

Label: Berlin Classics

https://www.berlin-classics-music.com/en/album/8854715927-trio-machiavelli-ravel-chausson/

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Review

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.

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.

-- Tal Agam, The Classic Review

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Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas, and eight song cycles. His best known works include Boléro (1928), Gaspard de la nuit (1908), Daphnis et Chloé (1912). Ravel was also an exceptionally skilled orchestrator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

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Ernest Chausson (20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. He studied with Jules Massenet at the Paris Conservatoire, and  also with César Franck, with whom he formed a close friendship. When only 44 years old, Chausson died of a freak bicycle accident and left behind only 39 opus-numbered pieces. Chausson's work is deeply individual. The quality and originality of his compositions are consistently high, and several of his works continue to make occasional appearances on programs of leading singers, chamber music ensembles and orchestras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Chausson

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Claire Huangci (born March 22, 1990 in Rochester, New York) is an American classical pianist. Having completed her study at The Curtis Institute of Music from 2003 to 2007, she continued her musical education at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover from 2007 to 2016. Huangci won the Second Prize at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition as its youngest participant, as well as the Concours Geza Anda in Zurich in 2018. She has appeared as a soloist performing with well-known orchestras in Europe, North America and China. Her solo debut recording was published in 2013.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Huangci
https://clairehuangci.com/en/

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