Mozart: Sonatas for Violin and Piano, K. 296, 304, 481 and 526. Berofsky Duo (Aaron Berofsky, violin; Charles Berofsky, fortepiano). MSR Classics. $14.95.
Brahms: Piano Trios Nos. 1-3; Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano; Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano. Gustav Trio (Francesco Comisso, violin; Dario Destefano, cello; Olaf John Laneri, piano); Lorenzo Guzzoni, clarinet; Boštjan Lipovšek, horn. Brilliant Classics. $14.99 (2 CDs).
Mozart wrote a whole bunch of violin sonatas, and if that statement seems a trifle imprecise, at least it does not get into the issue of how many there really are: one recent “complete” recording included 16, another offered 26, and a third served up 28. There are also a few fragments here and there and some not-quite-sonatas (variations and such) for the same two instruments – both of which Mozart played more than serviceably. Performers enamored of these works but not insistent on completeness certainly have a number of gems from which to choose, and the father-and-son Berofsky Duo has chosen very well indeed for an MSR Classics recording that provides enormous enjoyment by actually using the keyboard instrument for which Mozart wrote these pieces: a fortepiano, not a modern concert grand. The fortepiano sound is something of an acquired taste for many listeners: the keys have less travel than those of modern pianos, the cabinet produces much less resonance, the keyboard compass is considerably less than today’s eight octaves (instruments of Mozart’s time typically spanned five octaves; six-octave pianos did not begin to be produced until about 1810), and the pedals function differently and affect the sound in different ways. The inherent balance between violin and fortepiano is thus different from that between violin and modern piano, and hearing a smattering of the Mozart violin sonatas played on a fortepiano plus a violin of Mozart’s time (dating to 1754) is a wonderful aural experience that really shows the intimacy and intertwining of two-player chamber music in the composer’s time. There is considerable variation among the Mozart violin sonatas, and this recording explores some of that: three works here are in three movements and major keys, while one, K. 304, is in the minor (specifically E minor) and consists of only two movements. The performers’ handling of all four pieces is exemplary. K. 296 in C strides forth with strength and brightness from the beginning, turns tender in the second movement, then concludes with unfailing good humor. K. 304, although scarcely deep, pairs an extended movement that never strays far from seriousness with a Tempo di Minuetto that has a tentative, rather halting sound that comes across particularly effectively on the correct instruments. K. 481 in E-flat is good-natured at the beginning, thoughtful in the central Adagio, and beautifully rhythmic in the finale. K. 526 melds the instruments interestingly at the start in a movement filled with subtlety, continues with an Andante that plumbs considerable emotional depth without requiring a super-slow tempo, and concludes with a pleasantly puckish Presto that, in the piano part, has many characteristics of a perpetuum mobile. These are well-thought-out and thoroughly idiomatic performances, nicely paced and sensitive to the sonatas’ varying moods, and the rightness of the sound of the violin and fortepiano adds a great deal to the pleasure of the listening experience.
The count of Brahms’ piano trios is not quite as complicated as that of Mozart’s violin sonatas, but it too is not entirely straightforward. There are three or four works specifically labeled by Brahms as piano trios – the reason for the ambiguity is that the two versions of Piano Trio No. 1 (1854 and 1889, the latter labeled Neue Ausgabe, “new edition,” by the composer) are so different as to be, in effect, two separate works (in this respect rather like the two versions of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4). In addition, there are two pieces that Brahms wrote for three instruments, including piano, but they are not generally referred to as “piano trios” – they are labeled based on the inclusion of horn in one and clarinet in the other. So in all, there are five or six trios by Brahms, each in four movements; and all except the earlier version of Piano Trio No. 1 are offered in fine performances by the Gustav Trio and guest artists on an exceptionally well-priced two-CD set from Brilliant Classics. This company frequently packages older performances into complete sets of this or that, but not so here: these readings all date to 2024. And they are all quite accomplished. The latter Piano Trio No. 1, here dated 1891 (the year it was published), is the longest of these five works, although it is considerably shorter than the trio’s original version. Written in B but spending considerable time in B minor (even ending in that key), this trio opens with a very extended and expansive movement – the longest in any of the pieces heard here – that the Gustav Trio sustains very well throughout; contrasts among and within the remaining movements are all well-handled. Piano Trio No. 2 is in C, with its middle two movements in minor keys (A minor and C minor respectively). The fluidity of this work’s themes is complemented by greater fluidity of form than is usual in Brahms: there is a sense of the fantasia in some elements, along with some unusual approaches – the finale, for example, has four distinct themes, each scored differently. Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor is a shorter work and an intense one, with three of its four movements in the home key (although the finale does end, traditionally, in C major). The complex rhythms that pervade this trio are well-handled in this performance and help accentuate the rather uneasy feeling that the music repeatedly generates. In the Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano, Boštjan Lipovšek’s horn blends very well with the other instruments while consistently providing coloration that gives the music a highly distinctive sound – this is early Brahms (dating to 1861, when he was 28) that already presages the later sonic environment so often referred to as “autumnal,” thanks to the skillful interweaving of the horn with strings and percussion. The latest piece of all among Brahms’ forays into compositions for three instruments is the 1891 Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, whose unusual and quite deliberately dark instrumentation makes for a crepuscular or, yes, autumnal sound throughout, but there is nothing pervasively dismal here – indeed, Brahms thoroughly explores the clarinet’s wide range of both notes and expressiveness, resulting in a work that is often somber but includes enough cheerful and sometimes folklike elements to avoid ever becoming dreary. Lorenzo Guzzoni does especially well with the lower and darker realms of the clarinet – the instrument used by Richard Mühlfeld, for whom the piece was written, was known for its very dark tone – but also does a fine job of lightening the mood when Brahms invites some respite. The overall performance, like those of all the other trios presented here, is knowledgeable, carefully considered, and delivered with emotional heft as well as fine playing. However one counts the Brahms trios and the Mozart violin sonatas, it is always highly satisfying to hear them presented as engagingly and with as much sensitivity as they receive from the performers on these two very worthwhile recordings.
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