Category Archives: CD Reviews

Edward Reichel reviews CD Releases.

PACIFICA QUARTET’S SHOSTAKOVICH CYCLE SETS NEW STANDARDS

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PACIFICA QUARTET; “The Soviet Experience: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and His Contemporaries,” vols. 1-4 (Cedille Records) ****

Since its founding 20 years ago, the Pacifica Quartet has become one of today’s top string quartets. The group has attained this exalted position because of its amazing artistry, impeccable technique and polished and sophisticated interpretations. Many of its performances have raised the bar on quartet playing.

And with its recently finished four volume set of the complete Shostakovich quartets the foursome has set a high standard for this composer’s quartets. Others have recorded all 15 of the quartets, but in terms of interpretation and execution the Pacifica does it better. Listening to their insightful and sensitive performances on these albums one feels that many of these works were written with the Pacifica in mind. It doesn’t get any better than this.

All of the performances on this set are memorable, but several stand out.

Among the exceptional readings of these quartets is the Seventh in F sharp minor. The kaleidoscopic character of the work is given a seamless treatment by the Pacifica that brings a nicely balanced cohesiveness to the work as a whole.

The Eighth in C minor is also given a stunning reading. The Eighth is one of Shostakovich’s best known and most frequently played quartets. It’s a tragic work with powerful emotions. The Pacifica gives a heartfelt and poignant account that underscores the pathos of the work.

Shostakovich’s final quartet, written in the year before his death in 1975, is filled with searing emotions and pain. Its tragedy is on a higher level than that encountered in the Eighth, and the Pacifica acknowledges that with its stunning reading that almost lets the listener feel the pain that Shostakovich expresses. This is perhaps the best performance in this set.

Unlike other complete cycles, the Pacifica also includes works by some of Shostakovich’s contemporaries, including Alfred Schnittke and Sergei Prokofiev. Including them in this collection puts their music, as well as Shostakovich’s, in a new and better perspective.

This set is a definite must have for any lover of chamber music.

(The Pacifica Quartet appears in Salt Lake City on March 6. Click here to read Edward Reichel’s interview with the group’s violist, Masumi Per Rostad.)

SETZER, FINCKEL AND WU HAN RAISE THE BAR FOR CHAMBER MUSIC

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Violinist Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet, cellist David Finckel, former member of the Emerson, and pianist Wu Han, Finckel’s wife, are musical colleagues who’ve collaborated together in various configurations for decades. But it’s only in the last few years that they’ve appeared together as a trio. As a piano trio they are the new standard against which all other groups must be compared

The three have recorded a few CDs for Finckel and Wu Han’s ArtistLed label. Two of the albums are reviewed below, along with a review of a disc featuring clarinetist David Shifrin.

(Setzer, Finckel and Wu Han are appearing with the Utah Symphony this weekend in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, a work which they’re performing publicly for the first time at these concerts.)

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WU HAN, PIANO, PHILIP SETZER, VIOLIN, DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO; Mendelssohn Piano Trios (ArtistLed)  ****

 Felix Mendelssohn’s two piano trios (No. 1 in D minor, op. 49, and No. 2 in C minor, op. 66) are staples of the repertoire. There have been many exceptional recordings made of these two works in the past 50 years, but it would be difficult to name a recording better than this one.

Mendelssohn’s distinctive style blends the clear lines of classicism with romantic expansiveness. Franz Schubert does much the same in his music, but his romanticism is expressed in strikingly different terms. With Mendelssohn, one finds the passionate storminess of romantic expressions, but it’s always tempered with clearly defined parameters; there is nothing excessive in his music.

Philip Setzer, David Finckel and Wu Han understand this. They bring out Mendelssohn’s idiosyncratic style in their polished and refined interpretations. They emphasize the rich expressiveness and delineate the dramatic elements of the music without overdoing it. Nothing is over the top; everything is put into perspective. The trio’s playing is sophisticated and perceptive and makes these works sound as if they were written for them.

WU HAN, PIANO, PHILIP SETZER, VIOLIN, DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO; Dvořák Piano Trios (ArtistLed)  ****

This disc contains two of Antonin Dvořák’s best known and most often played piano trios: No. 3 in F minor, op. 65, and No. 4 in E minor, op. 90, Dumky. As with the Mendelssohn trios, these two by Dvořák are part of the standard repertoire and are also among the great chamber works of the late 19th century.

Dvořák’s music exhibits a robustness tempered with finely crafted lyricism. The Czech composer was indebted to Johannes Brahms for his romanticism, which frequently gives expression in bold, impassioned themes and lush harmonies. But Dvořák doesn’t just imitate; he also brings his own distinctive voice to the mix. He adds a layer of Slavic folk idioms, and this blend of Germanic and Slavic elements is what makes his music stand out.

The three musicians give a vibrant account of each work. They infuse their playing with lyricism and bring a broad palette of expressions to their interpretations. And the slow movements in these two trios benefit from the ensemble’s gorgeously crafted expressiveness and eloquent phrasings.

Setzer, Finckel and Wu Han capture the heart and soul of these emotional laden works. Their readings are thoughtful and well articulated and they bring depth, feeling and passion to their playing.

DAVID SHIFRIN, CLARINET, DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO, WU HAN, PIANO; Clarinet Trios (ArtistLed)  ****

This is a wonderful album that explores three works for clarinet, cello and piano – a pleasing combination of instruments with distinctive voices that nevertheless blend well together.

On the CD are works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Max Bruch.

The lightest work on the disc is Beethoven’s early Trio in B flat major, op. 11. The work is classically structured and balanced and the three players give an articulate and crisp account that underscores the lightheartedness of the music.

Late in his life, Brahms wrote several chamber works that included the clarinet, among them the Quintet in B minor, op. 115; the two Sonatas, op. 120; and the Trio in A minor, op. 114, which is the work that is on this disc.

As is the case with most of his late works, this trio is dark, somber and inward looking. Gone are the impassioned outbursts of his earlier works. In their place one finds quiet reflection that expresses itself in some of the most eloquent and poetic  music Brahms ever penned.

Shifrin and his partners play this trio with beautifully rounded and rich tones that bring out the earnestness of the music. It’s a seamless and organic performance that misses nothing in subtlety, nuances and lyricism.

Rounding out the disc are four movements from Bruch’s Eight Pieces, op. 83. The music requires a clarinetist of extraordinary expressiveness and Shifrin delivers a wonderfully sensitive account of Nos. 2, 3, 6 and 7 in this set. And his playing is mirrored by that of Finckel and Wu Han’s. Together they play with exquisitely molded phrases and seamless lines that capture the character of each piece.