Bal 17.12.11 Schumann's Piano Trio no. 1 in D minor

[Nick Armstrong]

Doh, completely failed to learn the error of my ways this morning. Must admit that my concentration easily wandered: 'fraid the work still didn't do much to grab it. No doubt my fault. Verismissimo: did you do any better?

I've just listened to this programme. I was feeling exactly like you, LMP... I was thinking 'what a boring piece'... that is, until the Tetzlaff/ Andsnes reading of the slow movement was played. They and the Florestans seemed to inject the piece with real expressive interest - either that, or the slow and last movements are just more interesting than the first two.

Very well-presented BAL, I thought. Interesting. Not sure that the Russians who were chosen for top spot quite did it for me like the two versions I just mentioned, based on the extracts chosen. Well worth a listen tomorrow to see. And I like the sound of the couplings on that DG set, esp the fascinating-sounding Fauré piano quartet with dear old Rudolf Barshai on viola. I'd never heard of the existence of that...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There was one horrendous moment for me when the Reviewer declared that she was going to choose a recording that was "over 50 years old". I thought "Oh, she's going for Casals et co from the '30s".

Any other old duffer out there who still calculates time from his/her twenties?

[verismissimo]

Verismissimo: did you do any better?

I think the truth is that it's not just this trio that I have difficulty with these days, LMP. I find that I no longer play much of Schumann's ensemble chamber music now. I used to love greatly the piano quintet, but I find even that rather blatant and too thickly scored for my taste in recent years.

Thankfully, I still love the piano music and the songs inordinately. And I'm still partial to the symphonies, though they can suffer from the same issues as the chamber works.