Search - Cesar Franck, Maurice Ravel, Sviatoslav Richter :: Franck/Ravel: Piano Trios

Make room for this one on your desert isle...

John Grabowski | USA | 11/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one stunner of a CD. And what's most stunning is the Franck. I'm surprised this very dramatic, direct, raw and rhythmically-fierce work isn't more mainstream-popular. It's to chamber music what Mars, The Bringer of War is to orchestral--a wallop to the solar plexus. Richter and Kagan and Gutman take it for all it's worth, pounding it into shape, but also carressing it where needed. The result is a work that is alternately steely and delicate, epic and intimate. The performance is focused and never lets up, and we are overwhelmed, flattened, by the end. Again, I can't believe this work isn't far more popular than it is.



The Ravel is in many ways the opposite, small-scale and more about intricate textures than a singular rhythm. Again the three performers rise to the occasion. They are recorded a bit larger than life, which helps in the Franck but hinders the Ravel a little. For better balance one should seek out the Beaux Art Trio on Philips if one can find it. That recording is all about proportion and intimacy. Here the mikes are a bit close, probably to drown out audience coughing. (You have to put up with a certain amount of coughing on this CD, but it's worth it.) Still, the tempo contrasts here are greater than the Beaux Arts, or indeed most any other recording I've ever heard of the work, yet they always convice me and never distend or misshape the work. In this series of live recordings of Oleg Kagan, this is the best disc I've heard so far. Snap it up before the fools delete it!"

Great performances, fine music

John Grabowski | 05/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are live performances recorded in Moscow on analogue tape in 1983. The sound on the CD is good. The performances are superb, the music beautiful and fascinating. The Franck is a richly romantic work with strong melodies. The Ravel uses complicated rhythms. Recommended."

Great Works, Great Peformances and Excellent Recording Quali

Ahmed Munim Ahmed | CA, USA | 09/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Acutally I didn't know Franck composed trios. I was surprised by the quality and depth of the works, and the performers play so beautifully that they express every note with depth of feeling and seriousness which overwhelms the listener from the first note. The sound quality is excellent, it is one of the best chamber music recordings I experienced this year."