Customer Reviews

Mozart: Complete Piano Trios

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 2-CD set contains some of Mozart's loveliest chamber music. Originally recorded in 1967-1970, the Beaux Arts Trio, (then comprised of pianist Menahem Pressler, violinist Daniel Guilet, and cellist Bernard Greenhouse) play with great sensitivity and warmth . Mozart composed most his piano trios during the last five years of his life - from 1786 through 1788. Here we see him at "full stretch," with his chamber music style fully developed. The Beaux Arts do an admirable job of conveying the necessary atmosphere of intimacy and serenity, and at the same time great vitality, in their playing. Outer movements are at just the right tempo to give the music a joyful exuberance, and the slow movements convey a wonderful sense of peacefulness. Also included in this set is Mozart's famous clarinet trio, the "Kegelstett." Stephen Kovacevic (piano), Jack Brymer (clarinet), and Patrick Ireland (viola) play with a dynamic musicianship equal to that of the Beaux Arts Trio; as a result, the "Kegelstett" is just as impressive as the piano trios.

The CD sound quality is excellent, with a high degree of realism and immediacy. However, these analog recordings, originally mastered over thirty years ago, do have a bit thinner string timbre, which seems more prominent with the violin. Still, this detracts very little from an overall wonderful listening experience. Highly recommended!

These performances are wonderful, pure, relaxed and elegant. Mozart's Piano Trios are mostly mature works, still more easy listening and less expressive, less demanding than his "Haydn" quartets, most essential string quintets (K. 515, 516, 593), the piano/wind quintet (K 452), the piano quartet (K. 478) and the trio labelled "Divertimento" (K. 563). This makes it more difficult to explain what their charm consists in. Let me try with words like playful coolness, charming equanimity, happy serenity, light imperturbability, natural elegance, soothing purity or unruffled whiteness... Elegance is the keyword.

I have had this recording for about five years, and have enjoyed it immensley. Recorded in the 1960's, it features the original personnel (Menahem Pressler, Piano - Daniel Guilet, Violin - Bernard Greenhouse, Cello).

The Beaux Arts Trio is just wonderful in this literature. Menahem Pressler's dynamic shading, articulation, and interactions with the other instruments are always "just right".

The sound of the recording itself is fine. Even though it was recorded in 1967, it was digitally remastered to cd.

I highly recommend this set. The Beaux Arts has been around for over 40 years. As a result, they have a lot of experience playing with each other, and it shows in this masterful compilation.

I can't add much to Mike Powers excellent review, but a few thoughts. This is another in the Philips Duo series, which I find a good source for the chamber music of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert etc at bargain prices. The way these composers are played remains pretty much unchanged since these recordings were made in the late 60s and the 1970s, and made by the finest players of the time. When you thought piano trios you thought the Beau Arts Trio, who made the piano trio their speciality. So you can be sure that the interpretation will be excellent, which it is, and, despite the age of the recording, the sound is very good. And the music ? Some who take life too seriously might put them down as " more Mozart lollipops", well, they don't pretend to compare with a Brandenburg, but they are joyfull and airy, more like a small scale piano concerto, plenty of fine melodies for all the players.
I have no hesitation in giving five stars, there might be a better version available, but it will cost at least twice as much.

The last two star review is frankly flabbergasting. I guess some people may be just a little hard to please and perhaps if you are a musical expert or virtuoso you may have a case against these performances by the uniformly excellent Beaux Arts Trio.

Look at what everyone else thinks! This is exceptionially beautiful music played with heart and soul. There are so many performances of Mozart's chamber music that to these untrained ears just sound dull, thin-lipped and polite - for a long time I found much of Mozart's music rather superficial - very clever and witty - but ultimately superficial - I could fully understand why Glenn Gould recorded his sonatas just to show how overrated he had become!

Listening to the Beaux Arts Trio, all is forgiven. I can hear all instruments perfectly equally; the pacing is spot on and somehow the performance brings out a profundity in Mozart's chamber music I was unable to hear before.

Having said all this I would of course love to hear the other Phillips recording that is meant to be so definitive.

Notwithstanding the two star reviewer that "takes his chamber music very seriously", you can tell that the rest of us mere mortals find this music very enjoyable. This has always been a "go to" set whenever I find myself conflicted as to what I really want to listen to. We have all put a disc in only to find that it just isn't quite the right music for the moment; this set has never been part of one of those moments. This recording always offers a pleasant lift to my spirits; it is fun and lighthearted but not childish like some of his early compositions. The playing is great and the recording is also very good. Just for fun, (of course this precludes anyone who takes chamber music very seriously) check out track 11 on disc one; at approximately 5:30, you can faintly hear birds chirping in the background. This just adds to the enjoyable feeling I already get from this recording. Get this disc and enjoy! It's noteworthy that Mr. Serious didn't offer an alternative recording to these trios. Also, we all know to disregard comments from someone who starts with "I take my chamber music very seriously"; even the composer himself wouldn't have said such a thing when reviewing this recording.

There is also a Philips release, item 422 079-2. It seems this was re-recorded with the Beaux Arts Trio recorded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 5/1987. The personel are different for this recording:
M Pressler, piano
Isadore Cohen, Violin
B. Greenhouse Violincelle

Mozart Trios; how can you go wrong ? Shipping, quality as advertised. Disc a little hard to remove from jewel case.

I take my chamber music very seriously, and thought this would be a good deal at $14 from Amazon. I'm severely disappointed, but concede you get what you pay for. Both the remastering and the playing leaves something to be desired. I have these same three players playing the Dumky Trio and the Mendelssohn d minor Trio, and the Schubert Trios and they're quite good. These are bad enough that I would not even consider backing the CDs up.

First, the balance seems to be biased towards the violin / clarinet. Daniel Guilet is often criticized for milking the music too much, and it is no exception here, and this, imho, is a severe flaw when interpreting Mozart. His style is also inconsistent. For example, his Mozart spiccato at pianissimos becomes sloppy detaches that are way too long at fortes. Menahem Pressler sounds like he's playing with the soft pedal and the lid down. At times Mozart's clever left hand counterpoint is lost in the background. In the Clarinet Trio, the viola is often lost behind the clarinet. Overall, the intonation is not very good, especially in the awkward passages, like in the E major Trio. (Both Guilet and Greenhouse have issues tuning against the piano... perhaps because the lid was down?)

I give two stars because it could be even worse. My expectations compare to the excellent (especially in comparison) interpretation by Ingred Haebler of the Mozart Piano Quartets (released by Philips). There the exacting intonation and precociousness of Mozart shines. With these recordings I feel like I'm listening to a sight-reading through the wall, closest to the violinist/clarinet player.