Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
| 1. Pno Trio No.1 in c, Op.5: Allegro Con Brio |
| 2. Pno Trio No.1 in c, Op.5: Allegro Vivace |
| 3. Pno Trio No.1 in c, Op.5: Adagio Molto |
| 4. Pno Trio No.1 in c, Op.5: Allegro Comodo |
| 5. Pno Trio No.2 in B flat: Allegro Giocoso |
| 6. Pno Trio No.2 in B flat: Tranquillo |
| 7. Pno Trio No.2 in B flat: Allegro Molto |
| 8. Melody, Op.44 |
| 9. Ballade, Op.69 |
The Trio No. 2, likewise, is an entertaining amalgam of Germanic and American music making. The bumptious melody of the first movement, with its dotted rhythms, is clearly an American invention, but the sweeping romanticism of the whole also recalls the young Richard Strauss of the chamber music phase, as does the restless first melody of the finale. But whatever its provenance, what a lovely melody the second one, introduced by the piano, is! The coda memorably recalls the dotted rhythms of the first movement. This is a more assured and confident work than the First Trio and one that should be in the repertory of just about every American piano trio.
The melody and ballade are nice works, too, if much less meaty.
The three players involved do this ravishing music proud, and be assured that the sound here is all one could hope for: intimate yet open and airy, with great truthfulness. Certainly this CD is one of finest, if not the finest, chamber music entries in Naxos' American Classics series.
Foote's style is indebted to European models, yet I firmly believe that its character is pure 19th century Boston. If you are looking for the music of the era and cultural climate of Henry Adams, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Charles Eliot, then this is your music. The most appropriate visual complement to this music is Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Back Bay-- an impeccabbly preserved area lined with 1870's and 1880's Victorian brownstones and mansions and shaded by large trees in the center of the boulevard. While this music hardly blazes new trails, it stands very well on its own and well-represents the "Athens of America" that Boston has always striven for. Clearly, Boston was much more conservative in its musical tastes than New York City, and would ultimately lose its strong musical influence. However, Foote represents the best of the Boston Classicists, and is well worth exploring for its historical and cultural merits as well as its musical ones.
Also, the price is right.
|
