Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio [The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio]Here's one of the beautiful things about my Blog, just lately i've had a rash of discs that originally were reviewed early on in my Blog, this disc is no exception [28th January 2010], of course no disc is bought merely to play once and enjoyed, and then forgotten about, but the whole point of me collecting discs is to find treasurable discs that are worth playing 'again and again', and therefore such discs will appear in my Blog 'again and again', and eventually such discs that only appear once should become rare as time goes by.
The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio are from Russia, they record on the Hyperion label, but sadly are fairly unknown in the west, they recorded this disc in 2000, the front cover is phenomenal, Hyperion are wont to using paintings and artwork on their covers, a lot are really quite poor, but this one is a treasure, the painting is 'The Secret Garden' by Nikolai Sergeyev, a wonderfully atmospheric painting, showing a secret lake, the half lights are wonderful, the dark green haze that covers everything is magical, a well chosen painting.
Well i just have to admit on this listening it's again those incredibly 'varied variations' that show Tchaikovsky at his genius, more than ever it shows what a profound depth of ideas he had, the outer movements are glorious [if you consider the Variation Finale and Coda a movement] in themselves, but the heart of the work lays at the twists and turns, and sheer colour and profundity of those variations, each one is a gem in itself, and when listened to independently from those either side, it's a piece of music that can stand up on its own, but when presented in tandem with its neighbours, the joy is then heightened, it's this ability to clap your eyes on a tree in the forest, and delight in its individuality, but also at the same time to be able to stand back, and appreciate how each tree is only a part, and creates the whole wonderful forest.
