Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Great Piano Trios (Piano Trio in Am Op50; Rachmaninov: Trio élégiaque No1)

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The Tchaikovsky Trio is a masterpiece -- one of the most beautiful pieces of chamber music ever written. I would put it on a par with Beethoven's Archduke Trio -- although the two works are quite different. Tchaikovsky wrote this work in memory of his mentor and friend Nicholas Rubinstein and -- perhaps for this highly-emotional reason -- he pored all of his considerable genius into it. If you are not familiar with this beautiful work please give it a try. You may find that you love it as much as I do. Although the Rachmaninov Trio is not on the same exalted plane as that by Tchaikovsky (but then very few trios are) it is a quite pleasant filler. The performances by the Moscow Trio are quite good. They obviously know these Russian works quite well, and I suspect from their playing that they love the Tchaikovsky Trio and recognize it for the unique masterpiece which it is.

The Moscow Conservatory Trio is a first rate chamber group that performs this difficult piano trio by Tchaikovsky as if born to the manor. Even although the piano frequently has the dominant role, the overall balance is excellent and each voice is clearly heard yet wonderfully blended. They make a very warm sound yet retain clarity throughout. This performance has now moved up in my collection alongside the new version by Lang Lang, Repin and Miasky, the older, slightly rough-sounding Richter, Gutman and Kogan version, and the Bronfman, Shaham and Mork version. The Rachmaninov early trio makes a generous filler. Warmly recommended.

the moscow conservatory trio is stunning. the music is played with such emotion that it fills you. i don't know much about music, but i love this cd and i listen to it all the time.

Middle-of-the-road, enjoyable renditions of the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff that unfortunately are also possibly a bit too anonymous. Pleasant as background and warmly recorded, this disc is nice while it's on and then forgotten as soon as it's removed. Still, the way they build the variations in the second movement of the Tchaikovsky is fun. Argerich/Kremer/Miasky are more impassioned, but more than that, they bring more *personality* to the work, and I'd recommend that overall more. (It also has the electricity of being live, but the sonics are excellent and the audience is silent.) As for the work itself, it requires stamina. It's long, and loquacious, as Bruno Walter might say. Sometimes Tchaikovsky, especially in his earlier-to-middle works, let form get away from him. We're nearly approaching Mahler-lengths here, and this is a chamber work. Still, it can be enchanting, if the mood is right and the seat cushions are soft.