Ravel Piano Trio Recommendations

[makropulos]

I have several recordings of this piece, but my favourite - by some distance - is still the Trio di Trieste on DG, which is still available as a download. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trio-Triest...rio+di+trieste)

[Keraulophone]

1st recording: André Previn / Yong Uck Kim / Ralph Kirshbaum - An EMI LP from 1974. c/w Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 - a well worn coupling from student days.

CD won in a radio competition when this film was released, plus tickets to see it at The Everyman, Belsize Park: Jacques Rouvier, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Philippe Muller.
A good recording, though probably now superceded by the Capuçons & Frank Braley on the same label.

[mathias broucek]

Pascal Roge et al on Onyx.

Seconded. Better recorded and rehearsed than Joachim and less pulled about than BAT

[mathias broucek]

The name Tortelier prompts me to mention:

Any views on the orchestration?

[Bryn]

Any views on the orchestration?

Sorry, it's more an orchestration I know of, than know. I think I heard it some years ago, but it failed to make much of an impression on me at the time.

[richardfinegold]

Seconded. Better recorded and rehearsed than Joachim and less pulled about than BAT

I listened to a BAT version on Spotify while driving into work. "Pulled about" says it pretty well.

[Bryn]

Any views on the orchestration?

I now have the recording cited and am finding the orchestration very convincing. Lots of distinctly Ravel-sounding touches. In his notes for the CD's booklet, YPT explains that he was driven to make the orchestration as a result of the many years of rehearsing and playing the Trio with his family. They always found the piano part in particular to be crying out for orchestral elaboration.

[Bryn]

Not sure which it is and away from collection at the moment. I like the idea of a 60 CD set of BAT - must check it out.

Well, the Torteliers' recording is to be found in a 20 CD box:




It's tucked away on disc 13. The box is a much cheaper option than the used copy of the single disc issue on amazon.co.uk.

[visualnickmos]

I remember acquiring the Joachim Trio on Naxos many years ago, and really enjoying the performance - and still do. There is a confident sort of 'rawness' about their playing here, which I find very appealing. Then a few years ago I acquired another recording - with the Florestan Trio on Hyperion. I also enjoy this very much, indeed, although to my ears, they approach it quite differently - perhaps in a slightly more mannered way. It is perhaps as if they play it with the slightly rough edges smoothed off, and I personally like the Joachim's rough edges..... so difficult to try and explain in words, something as abstract as a listening experience. One should just listen and feel, I suppose.

PS It is a CD entitled French Piano Trios, Volume 1. As far as I know a Volume 2 has never appeared(?)

[Pulcinella]

PS It is a CD entitled French Piano Trios, Volume 1. As far as I know a Volume 2 has never appeared(?)

Indeed! I've often wondered what would have been on it!

[visualnickmos]

Indeed! I've often wondered what would have been on it!

I think you've answered the question!

...but I'm sure they could have found something that could slot into the description - after all, Naxos is - to say the least - a pioneer of recording the obscure! And that is meant as praise, by the way.

[Pianophile]

I first heard this work in the film 'Un Coeur en Hiver' and was so captivated by it that I went to see it a second time the following day as I'd missed catching what it was as the credits rolled. I bought the Collins Classics recording by Trio Zingara on cassette, then later on CD and though I've subsequently listened to many versions, this performance remains a benchmark for me. It's coupled with a searing account of Shostakovich no. 2.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravel-Shostakovich-Piano-Trio-Zingara/dp/B01CM0FGQ8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466236984&sr=8-2&keywords=Trio+zingara+Ravel

[HighlandDougie]

I continue to agree with myself on this !

https://www.amazon.com/Ravel-Piano-minor-Sonata-violin/dp/B001MUJSZU

I'd go straight for this version, Richard.

Cheapish used copy obtained from La Chaumière; worth the effort as the performance is as fine as Caliban (and the Radio France panel) assert. Music which moves me deeply, never more so than with the Trio Dali.

[mathias broucek]

I remember acquiring the Joachim Trio on Naxos many years ago, and really enjoying the performance - and still do. There is a confident sort of 'rawness' about their playing here, which I find very appealing. Then a few years ago I acquired another recording - with the Florestan Trio on Hyperion. I also enjoy this very much, indeed, although to my ears, they approach it quite differently - perhaps in a slightly more mannered way. It is perhaps as if they play it with the slightly rough edges smoothed off, and I personally like the Joachim's rough edges..... so difficult to try and explain in words, something as abstract as a listening experience. One should just listen and feel, I suppose.

PS It is a CD entitled French Piano Trios, Volume 1. As far as I know a Volume 2 has never appeared(?)

The Joachim did a disc of Saint Saens trios for Naxos

[kea]

I have some fairly obscure ones, most of which were collected fairly early on (I think Dumay et al was my first, and the Calliope one is part of a set of Ravel chamber music. Picked up NZTrio most likely among CDs sold at their concerts, I imagine <_< and the Lions Gate because of the cellist being a relative of a friend + curiosity about Rebecca Clarke). I've heard some of the more well-known recordings but evidently never felt the need to buy any of them...?

Dumay/Lodeon/Collard (EMI)
Lions Gate Trio (Centaur)
NZTrio (Rattle)
Barda/Caracilly/Heitz (Calliope)

Listened to the NZTrio recording today and, ok, this will probably be my one concession to national pride ever on this forum, but I was confirmed in finding it a very appealing reading and probably fit to stand among the best. (It is interpretively similar to what I'd imagine the Florestan Trio to be like, if that makes sense.) I'd quite like to hear Trio Dali if only because I have always been very impressed with Fuga Libera's production values.