Search - Aaron Copland, Dmitry Shostakovich, Trio Wanderer :: Chostakovich: Trios, Opp 8 & 67; Copland: Trio "Vitebsk"

Trio Wanderer has chosen an extremely interesting program. Shostakovich's Trio No. 1, in a single movement, is seldom performed today, but it's a brilliant forecast of a teenager composer's great career to come, dramatic and satisfying. Vitebsk, an early Copland masterpiece, is a blending of the avant-garde and of Russian Jewish folklore. The Shostakovich Second Trio is one of his greatest works, an elegiac tribute from 1944 to Jewish victims of the Holocaust (it even incorporates a Jewish folk tune into the finale) and to a friend of the composer who died in the War. Trio Wanderer's playing of the Shostakovich Trios is affecting, stressing sensitivity to the music more than drama. The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio's playing is more powerful, and this set is full of Shostakovich's best music. Trio Wanderer's Copland is extremely idiomatic, as effective as the composer's own version. There should be more than 55 minutes of music on this disc, but the interesting coupling, fine performances, and realistic sound still make it appealing. --Leslie Gerber