Those listeners who
regard Beethoven as the god of thunder
are in for quite a treat in these early
and immaculately refined trios for string
instruments. Doubtless, the composer
considered these works to be a formal
sort of farewell to his student days,
after which he assumed his rightful
place in the realm of the expert professional
composer. Full of grace, wit, charm
and even some drama and romance, these
are beautifully crafted works that prove
beyond a doubt that the stormy little
man who would one day conquer Vienna
needed no great cause to write fine
music. Indeed, he was quite capable,
and from an early age, to generate elegant
works for the sheer pleasure of it.
These trios make for
a very rich program, as they complement
each other nicely with their contrasts.
From the formal opening of the first
trio, which is followed by a sublimely
lyrical second movement, to the rollicking
and somewhat tempestuous opening of
the third trio in the minor mode, there
is ample assortment of mood, temperament
and color.
There is little fault
to be found with these performances
either. The Kandinskys play with technical
assurance and flawless intonation. They
produce a robust, rich sound that belies
the fact that only three instruments
are sounding. They also have a fine
sense of the contrasting moods of the
works, from serious and formal to lyrical
and melodic to jaunty and playful.
Regrettably, however,
there is one major flaw. As I have said
before in these pages, someone needs
to tell string players that wind is
not one of the requirements for the
production of a fine string tone. Throughout
this entire performance, the players
subject us to the annoyingly pretentious
sound of the melodramatic sucking of
air. It adds absolutely nothing artistically
or musically to a performance to hear
the musicians sniff and snort as though
they were a bunch of tubercular double
reed players. It is maddeningly obnoxious,
and no producer should ever allow it
to get past the cutting room floor.
Sound quality is excellent,
warm and rich. Arte Nova, as is their
bent, have produced a set of program
notes that are unnecessarily obtuse
and wordy. It is really better to have
original notes in each language than
to make readers suffer through unidiomatic
translations.
For the music, this
is worth the price, and I recommend
it with the above-mentioned caveats.
Kevin Sutton
Kandinsky String Trio: Kathrin Rabus, violin,
Hartmut Rohde, viola, Nikolai Schneider, cello
