Piano Trio No. 2 “Trio élégiaque“ by Artur Pizarro

Artur Pizarro

Piano Trio No. 2 “Trio élégiaque“

Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085533350
Catnr: AVI 8553335
Release date: 14 August 2015

1 CD

Label
CAvi

UPC
4260085533350

Catalogue number
AVI 8553335

Release date
14 August 2015

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Along with the 1st Piano Concerto op. 1 and The Rock (a symphonic poem), the Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor op. 9 is one of the most significant works of Sergei Rachmaninov’s youth: he was twenty years old and had just finished Moscow Conservatory with several diplomas.

Additionally, his alma mater awarded him the rare Great Gold Medal for his Pushkin-based opera Aleko, premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1893. Coming from an impoverished family of the landed gentry, the former introvert had now fledged into a self-assured, successful composer. His role model was Peter Tchaikovsky, who, in turn, followed his younger colleague’s output with keen interest and approval.

Rachmaninov studied composition in Moscow with Sergei Taneyev (a disciple of Tchaikovsky’s) and Anton Arensky. He thus became closely acquainted with his idol’s artistic outlook, along with rigorous piano training in the hands of renowned pedagogue Nikolai Sverev and his own cousin, Liszt-pupil Alexander Siloti. No wonder, therefore, that this phenomenally gifted pianist endowed his 45-minute- trio with a challenging piano part, constantly demanding a full spread of the hand. The work’s sad occasion was Tchaikovsky’s sudden passing on 6 November 1893, an event whose mysterious circumstances are not fully explained to this day. (from the lines Notes).

Performed by the Tetzlaffs. this recording is taken from the Festival Spannungen (12 June 2014).

Insieme al primo Concerto per pianoforte Op. 1 e al poema sinfonico La Roccia, il Trio elegiaco n. 2 in re minore Op. 9 è una delle opere più significative del periodo giovanile di Rachmaninov: il compositore russo aveva vent’anni e aveva appena completato il percorso di studi al Conservatorio di Mosca con diversi diplomi. Inoltre, il suo Conservatorio gli aveva conferito la Gran Medaglia d’Oro per la sua opera Aleko, basata su un poema di Puškin, rappresentata al teatro Teatro Bol'šoj nel 1893. Proveniente da una famiglia decaduta della nobiltà terriera, l’adolescente un tempo introverso era ora diventato un compositore di successo e sicuro di sé. Il suo modello di riferimento era Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij, che a suo volta seguiva la produzione del suo collega più giovane con un forte interesse e appovazione. Rachmaninov aveva studiato composizione a Mosca con Sergej Taneev (un allievo di Čajkovskij) e Anton Arenskij. Entrò quindi a stretto contratto con la visione compositiva del suo idolo, insieme ad avere una rigorosa formazione pianistica nelle mani del noto pedagogo Nikolai Zverev e di suo cugino nonché allievo di Liszt, Alexander Siloti.
Non sorprende quindi che questo pianista, straordinariamente dotato, abbia assegnato al suo trio della durata di 45 minuti una parte pianistica assai impegnativa, che esige costantemente l’intera ampiezza della mano. La triste circostanza all’origine dell’opera fu l’improvvisa morte di Čajkovskij il 6 novembre 1893, un evento le cui misteriose circostanze non sono ancora state completamente chiarite.

Artist(s)

Tanja Tetzlaff (cello)

For decades, Tanja Tetzlaff has been one of the most influential musicians of her generation, both as soloist and chamber musician. Her playing is characterized by a uniquely fine yet powerful and nuanced sound, which always goes hand in hand with cultivated musicality. Tanja Tetzlaff’s trademark is her extraordinarily broad repertoire and her desire for new, groundbreaking concert formats. In April 2021, Tanja Tetzlaff became the first scholarship holder to be awarded the highly endowed Glenn Gould Bach Fellowship of the city of Weimar. She now has the opportunity to realize a two-year film project relating Bach’s famous cello suites to nature and climate change issues: Suites4Nature / Suites for a Wounded World. Tanja Tetzlaff is a founding member of the Tetzlaff Quartet (Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath, and Hanna...

For decades, Tanja Tetzlaff has been one of the most influential musicians of her generation, both as soloist and chamber musician. Her playing is characterized by a uniquely fine yet powerful and nuanced sound, which always goes hand in hand with cultivated musicality. Tanja Tetzlaff’s trademark is her extraordinarily broad repertoire and her desire for new, groundbreaking concert formats.
In April 2021, Tanja Tetzlaff became the first scholarship holder to be awarded the highly endowed Glenn Gould Bach Fellowship of the city of Weimar. She now has the opportunity to realize a two-year film project relating Bach’s famous cello suites to nature and climate change issues: Suites4Nature / Suites for a Wounded World.
Tanja Tetzlaff is a founding member of the Tetzlaff Quartet (Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath, and Hanna Weinmeister). She plays a cello by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini from 1776.

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Christian Tetzlaff (violin)

“One of the most brilliant and inquisitive artists of the new generation”, said the New York Times of Christian Tetzlaff, one of today’s most highly demanded soloists on stages all over the world. As at home in the classical and romantic repertoire as in contemporary music, Christian Tetzlaff sets standards with his interpretations of the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky as well as Berg, Schönberg, Shostakovich and Ligeti. He is particularly well-known for his incomparable performances of the Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas. In 2005 he was chosen by Musical America as “Instrumentalist of the Year”. He frequently played recitals with Leif Ove Andsnes and Lars Vogt. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in all international musical centres, including amongst others New...

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Artur Pizarro (piano)

Born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1968, Artur Pizarro gave his first public performance at the age of three and made his television début on Portuguese television at the age of four. He had been introduced to the instrument by his maternal grandmother, pianist Berta da Nóbrega, and her piano-duo partner, Campos Coelho who was a student of Vianna da Motta, Ricardo Viñes and Isidor Philipp. From 1974 to 1990 Artur studied with Sequeira Costa who had also been a student of Vianna da Motta and of Mark Hamburg, Edwin Fischer, Marguerite Long and Jacques Février. This distinguished lineage immersed Artur in the tradition of the ‘Golden Age’ of pianism and gave him a broad education in both the German and French piano schools and repertoire. During a brief interruption of his studies in the USA, Artur also studied with Jorge Moyano in Lisbon, and in Paris worked with Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier and Bruno Rigutto.
Artur won first prizes in the 1987 Vianna da Motta Competition, the 1988 Greater Palm Beach Symphony Competition and won first prize at the 1990 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, which marked the beginning of an international concert career.
Artur Pizarro performs internationally in recital, chamber music and with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Philippe Entremont, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Sir Andrew Davis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ilan Volkov, Franz Welser- Most, Tugan Sokhiev, Yakov Kreizberg, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Libor Pešek, Vladimir Jurowski, Ion Marin, John Wilson and the late Sir Charles Mackerras.
Artur is an active chamber musician and has performed at chamber music festivals throughout the world. Artur Pizarro has recorded extensively for Collins Classics, Hyperion Records, Linn Records, Brilliant Classics, Klara, Naxos, Danacord, Odradek Records and Phoenix Edition.
Artur Pizarro has received various awards from his native Portugal for services to classical music and culture including the Portuguese Press Award, the Portuguese Society of Authors award, the Medal of Culture of the City of Funchal and the Medal of Cultural Merit from the Portuguese Government.

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Composer(s)

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov was a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor of the late-Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular in the classical repertoire.
Born into a musical family, Rachmaninov took up the piano at age four. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 and had composed several piano and orchestral pieces by this time. In 1897, following the critical reaction to his Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninoff entered a four-year depression and composed little until successful therapy allowed him to complete his enthusiastically received Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1901. After the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninov and his family left Russia and resided in the United States, first in New York City. Demanding piano concert tour schedules caused his output as composer to slow tremendously; between 1918 and 1943, he completed just six compositions, including Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphony No. 3, and Symphonic Dances. In 1942, Rachmaninov moved to Beverly Hills, California. One month before his death from advanced melanoma, Rachmaninov acquired American citizenship.
Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and other Russian composers gave way to a personal style notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors.[3] The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninov's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.

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