Customer Reviews

American Romance

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Until this CD came my way, I'd never heard of the Rawlins Piano Trio. The three musicians are all faculty members of the Department of Music at the University of South Dakota, and they have recorded two previous CDs, both of which present little-known piano trio music of American composers. The composers whose trios are performed on those discs include Henry Hadley, Daniel Gregory Mason, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Ernest Bloch, Samuel Adler, William Clifford Heilman, and Horatio Parker. This disc adds music by Henry Holden Huss (1862-1953), Mortimer Wilson (1876-1932), and Adolph Martin Foerster (1854-1927), all of whom belong to the generation of American composers 'from the period before [the time of] Aaron Copland, when American music is generally thought to have arrived,' according to the fascinating booklet notes by the group's cellist, Richard Rognstad. He makes the point that there are untold numbers of Americans who had studied in Germany (and other parts of Europe) who came home to compose music that has since been lost to memory. He discovered the works on this disc (and the previously recorded two CDs) and thought they deserved to be disseminated. Indeed, he goes further to say that 'The Rawlins Piano Trio has adopted revivifying this heritage as part of its mission.' If this CD is any indication of what we've been missing, I'd say that their task is a worthy one indeed.

All three works--Huss's 'Trio in d minor, Op. 23' ('The Munich'), Wilson's suite 'From My Youth, Op. 5,' and Foerster's 'Serenade, Op. 61--are cast in roughly Brahmsian language; they are full of singing melodies and late 19th-century harmonies and part-writing. They are pleasant without being saccharine, strong without being abrasive.

Huss's trio was written in 1886 as a graduation present for his teacher in Munich, Josef Rheinberger. It starts out with a lushly harmonized melody that reminds me in its effect of that of Brahm's own Op. 8 piano trio. This work was fostered initially by one of America's first and greatest chamber violinists, Franz Kneisel, but its last known performance was in 1891. What a loss. This is a masterfully crafted four-movement work with an alternately dramatic and lyrical sonata-allegro first movement, a songful Andante that features a lovely 4/4 cello melody, an energetic and playful Scherzo, and a Finale which opens with a canonic version of the Andante's cello melody that is followed by the main body of the movement, a brisk, jocular 2/4 rondo.

Wilson's 'From My Youth' was originally published in two sets, each with four movements, but Rognstad had not been able to find the missing first set until after this recording was made. We're told those recently found pieces will be on the Trio's next release. The Trio here records the last four brief characteristic pieces--'Funeral of a Calico Cat,' 'Love-Song of an Alpine Doll,' 'Tin-Soldier Dress-Parade,' & 'Over the Little Blue Tea-Set.' From the titles one can discern that these are, with the exception of the 'Funeral,' more in the nature of salon pieces. 'Funeral,' though, is rather more dramatic--and at three minutes it is the longest--and manages to convey sadness as well as mock ceremony. There are some interesting instrumental effects in this set--cat's meows in the 'Funeral,' a bugle call in violin harmonics in 'Tin-Soldier,' and the chattering of ladies in 'Tea-Set.' Rognstad tells us that Wilson orchestrated the suite and it was played by the New York Philharmonic early in the last century.

Foerster's three-movement 'Serenade' is an exuberantly romantic work. The first movement has a gorgeous cello melody that serves as the scaffolding for the quasi-sonata-allegro movement. The Andante begins with a piano statement of an equally lovely melody eventually decorated with cello and violin counter-melodies that have their own interest. The allegro Finale is a vigorous rustic dance that then quotes the first movement's principal theme which is given contrapuntal treatment, leading to a hearty flourish of a coda, a fitting finish to a life-enhancing work.

All of these works are squarely tonal, unabashedly conservative, even for their time. And they are unfailingly delightful in effect.

Heartily recommended for those who like discovering heretofore forgotten works, particularly those of the high romantic period. If you love Brahms or, to name an American who is slightly better known from recent Naxos releases, Arthur Foote, this release is for you. The playing, while not quite on the level of, say, the Beaux Arts or Florestan Trio, is much more than satisfactory, and we are unlikely ever to hear any better performances of these pieces unless, mirabile dictu, they become part of the core piano trio repertoire. By the way, a real bonus here is the reproduction of Albert Bierstadt's painting, 'Among the Sierra Nevada,' on the booklet cover.

TT=64:39

Scott Morrison