Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky: Piano Trios Trio Testore

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G Minor:
• 1 Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G Minor 14:30
• Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893): Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50:
• 2 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Pezzo elegiaco. Moderato assai - Allegro giusto - Adagio con duolo - Allegro giusto 19:03
• 3 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Tema. Andante con moto 01:09
• 4 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 1 01:01
• 5 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 2 Più mosso 00:38
• 6 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 3 Allegro moderato 00:56
• 7 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 4 L'istesso tempo. (Allegro moderato) 01:06
• 8 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 5 L'istesso tempo 00:41
• 9 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 6 Tempo di valse 02:36
• 10 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 7 Allegro moderato 01:30
• 11 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 8 Fuga. Allegro moderato 02:16
• 12 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 9 Andante flebile, ma non tanto 03:23
• 13 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 10 Tempo di Mazurka. Con brio 02:07
• 14 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Var. 11 Moderato 02:16
• 15 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50: Variazione Finale e Coda. Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto - Lugubre (L'istesso tempo) 11:43
• Total Runtime 01:04:55

Info for Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky: Piano Trios

After a successful release of Brahms Piano Trios, Audite present a second recording with the Trio Testore. It sheds light on a moving concept in Russian chamber music as both Tchaikovsky‘s and Rachmaninov‘s works are conceived as dedications and memorials.

Tchaikovsky composed his only Piano Trio in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein, his mentor and friend. He paid tribute to Rubinstein’s pianistic brilliance with the work’s demanding piano part, but integrated it also into the communicative context with two equal partners: symbolically, the virtuoso receives support and stimulation from them. Rachmaninov took this two-movement work and its fundamentally elegiac character as a model when he composed his First Piano Trio. Even at the tender age of 17 he was able to mould essential elements of his style and melodic invention. The history of the dedications of the works determines their individual form and their personal, passionate message.

"Trio Testore tackle the earlier of the Rachmaninov trios, cast in a single movement, with a mix of tenderness and raw emotion; it is not a masterwork; but with the sensibility that these players reveal, it comes across with touching sincerity." (Gramophone Magazine)

Trio Testore:
Franziska Pietsch, violin
Hans-Christian Schweiker, cello
Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker, piano

Trio Testore
The multiple prize winning, highly acclaimed pianist Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker and cellist Hans-Christian Schweiker, chamber music partner of the legendary Amadeus Quartet and Professor of Violoncello and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne Academy of Music and Dance), founded the TRIO TESTORE in the year 2000, after concertizing throughout Europe for several years as the Duo con Aura.

Since 2015 the internationally renowned violinist Sebastian Hamann, soloist, chamber musician and Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the music conservatories in Lucerne and Freiburg (successor to Prof. Rainer Kussmaul), is the newest member of the Trio. Through his enormous stage presence and highly expressive and colorfully diverse style, he is an immense addition to the inexhaustible musical creativity of this already highly respected ensemble.

An active international career and excellently reviewed CD recordings testify to the highest quality of the ensemble. Ever since their release of the complete piano trios of Johannes Brahms on SACD (Audite), which caused a sensation around the world, the TRIO TESTORE has become a household name in the music world and is highly praised as an extraordinary ensemble for the intensity and originality of its interpretations by the media and audiences alike.

After the Trio's debut release in 2011 of works by Brahms and Shostakovich on the Audite label came the release of the aforementioned complete cycle of Brahms piano trios in 2013, which received praises of the highest order from the international press. In 2014 they released their next SACD of works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, which once again generated a highly positive response in the international press (Gramophone, Pizzicato, Fanfare, etc.) and was nominated for the "International Classical Music Award 2015."

"The Trio Testore is an ensemble which is capable of acting as a single organism. Chamber music in a truly exquisite category". - MDR -

„... with the sensibility that these players reveal, it comes across with touching sincerity ... Tchaikovsky found an emotional and textural balance here that the Testore tap purposefully and with considerable power and impetus ...“ --Geoffrey Norris - Gramophone Awards Issue, September 2014

„the performance here is exemplary, finding all the nuances of the composer's highly individual sound world.“ --Barry Forshaw Classical CD Choice, 12th October 2014

„This is as fine a performance of the Tchaikovsky Trio that you’ll ever find with these players putting their hearts and souls into the music.“ --Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer, 14th December 2014

This album contains no booklet.