Somebody listen to this recording!
D. J. Edwards | Cheshire, CT United States | 04/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Such a glorious set of Aresnky trios deserves more attention! Where are the fans of chamber music hiding these days? This is a gem of a recording. Lyrical and beautiful, these trios deserve at least a couple of hearings. The Borodin Trio outdo themselves with pinache, rhythmic joy, and a very special aura that has to be heard because there are no words to describe the magic performed here.
I came across the opus 32 trio by accident when I went to a Yale chamber Music peformance of compettion winners. They made a masterpiece of this trio, Arensky's best known musical piece.The second trio Op. 73, if not so well known, falls in the category of unjustly neglected music. According to the prgram notes of the concert, Arensky is not considered a significant figure in the history of music. What happened to the works abetween Op 52 and Op 73? That sounds like of lot of lost music to me. The program also states that the Arensky composed "ecletic" Romanic music cought somewhere between the Russian nationalism of the "Big Five" and the more refined "european" classicism favored by Tchaikovksy. Well in mho they're also caught between the Gorgeous and the very Memorable. His string quartet Op. 35 on Hyperion with the Raphael Ensemble, which includeas Tchaikovksy's Souvenir de Florence, is another musical wonder played as if they were masterpieces, but then again in my biased opinion I think this can be said about just almost every work the Raphael Ensemble have recorded. Please I'd like to known if anyone else enjoys these discs as I do. The Arensky trios are a wonderful gift!"