The Neave Trio’s Post Romantic Gloss on French Piano Trios

Chandos is one of my favorite classical labels with an intelligent selection of repertoire. The Neave Trio consisting of violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura is clearly a fit for Chandos. This trio’s releases have been consistently interesting and creative. This most recent release is a perfect example.

The recording includes three works by three composers (and a brilliant arranger) for piano trio. The first is by the venerable Brahmsian Charles-Camille Saint-Saens, his second Piano Trio Op. 92 (1892). I am not familiar with the chamber music portion of this prolific, virtuoso pianist/composer’s oeuvre but I’ve yet to have heard anything by him that failed to impress. Indeed, this 5 movement trio is a gloriously engaging fin de siècle salon music. Cast in 5 movements, it is a handsome piece of chamber music that deserves more hearings. And The Neave Trio clearly make a case for that in a lively execution of this virtuosic music.

The next work is a fine example of the curiosity and vision of these artists. These two movements for piano trio entitled “Soir-Matin” Op. 76 (1907) are by a composer wholly unknown, even to your eclectically curious reviewer. Mélanie Hélène “Mel” Bonis (1858-1937) is a new name to this listener and likely to most listeners. The lack of recognition of female composers is slowly being remedied by artists such as these who have here found a composer whose reputation deserves at least a little boost. I mean, she was a student of Cesar Franck and her music was lauded by no less than Saint-Saens. She was also a classmate of Debussy at the Paris Conservatoire. And this leads us to…

As if these first two entries alone weren’t enough to recommend this fine release, behold the ear opening arrangement (yes, for piano trio) of the masterful La Mer (1905) by Claude Debussy. The arrangement is by one Sally Beamish from 2013.

As a listener, I have frequently been amazed by the power of the long tradition of “arrangements” of music generally better known in a different form. Some use reduced forces to allow music to be performed more affordably (chamber ensemble vs. orchestra). Take Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”, or the two piano arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s seminal “Rite of Spring” ballet (1913) as examples. Comparatively few people even know that Pictures at an Exhibition was originally a solo piano piece. But both versions each have their charms, and each communicate the musical message differently. And though audiences are doubtless more familiar with the colorful orchestral original, The Rite of Spring, reduced to the work of four busy hands on two keyboards is a more portable experience. Especially before the flourishing of the recording industry, it made this music accessible to more listeners at less cost (2 musicians instead of a whole orchestra).

In both cases, the one vastly and gloriously expanding the evoked pictures described in sound, the other compacting a big orchestral tapestry into a more intimate “salon” experience. Each carries its own message and provides its own insights.

And it is here in the last three tracks of this fine album that we hear the ultimate glory, the real reason you want to add this disc to your collection. I have not heard any but the original orchestration (requiring an orchestra of some 60 musicians) of this French impressionist masterpiece. I could not imagine how one could squeeze these fully orchestrated harmonies and have that make sense to a listener using but three instruments. But the Neaves (if I may mint a friendly collective noun), with this arrangement by Beamish, provided this listener with a revelatory experience comparable to Joshua Rifkin’s brilliant arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Clouds” sung by the equally brilliant Judy Collins. Or, even more eclectic, the Anton Webern orchestration of the J.S. Bach Ricercar from his Musical Offering. The point here is that great performances of great arrangements have the effect of opening your ears and mind.

So let the “The Neaves” open your ears and mind with this delightfully unusual and very effective recording.