Trio Ernest (Stanislas Gosset, violin; Clément Dami, cello; Natasha Roque Alsina, piano).
Joseph HAYDN: Piano Trio in E minor Hob. XV:12
Maurice RAVEL: Menuet sur le nom de Haydn M.58
Joseph HAYDN: Piano Trio in E flat minor ‘Jacob’s Dream’ Hob. XV:31
Jacqueline FONTYN: Lieber Joseph!
Joseph HAYDN: Piano Trio in D major Hob. XV:7
Johannes BRAHMS: “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” op. 105 no. 2
Joseph HAYDN: Piano Trio in E flat major Hob. XV:29
Aparte AP341
Formats: CD
Release Date: January 19, 2024
Total Duration: 63:21
Giorgio Koukl | 13 MAR 2024
Trio Ernest has released its second album, fully centered on Joseph Haydn but with a few “special guests.”
This idea may seem odd at first. Why venture on the thin ice of already overplayed repertoire, where the “big” names have delivered their versions, which now seem pretty standard and impossible to beat?
AP341 cover art
Precisely here lies the originality of the central idea, a sort of “fil rouge” that will lead the attentive listener to discover the new, daring, and very original approach of these three young musicians to classical scores.
Trio Ernest, composed of violinist Stanislas Gosset, pianist Natasha Roque Alsina, and cellist Clèment Dami, is accomplishing a seemingly impossible task: playing Haydn in a way never before attempted.
And yes, they obtain what is promised. The rendering is joyous, witty, popping with new ideas, and highly entertaining; it simply has nothing to do with a certain air of museum dust often present in the older versions.
The disc contains four well-known Haydn trios, E-minor, E flat-minor (called “Jacob’s dream”), D-major and E flat-major.
A significant effort was apparently invested into the exact rendering of the tiniest details, the small rubati, and collective breathing, with the result that there is never a dull moment. Haydn emerges here with a potent charm, seemingly reborn into the 21st century.
The soul of this trio is clearly the pianist, Ms. Roque Alsina. She plays with scintillating and effortless efficacy. Knowing her rendering of solo piano music, where she displays a steel-like power, it is a joy to listen to her capacity to tame her forces in service of chamber music.
The violinist, Mr. Gosset, is of no less musical craftsmanship. He has chosen an unsentimental approach, avoiding any sort of vibrato but leading with sure authority where necessary.
Unfortunately, Mr. Dami’s contribution is limited by how Haydn treats his cello in nearly all of his trios: a sort of doubling the left piano hand with very few moments of real solistic engagement. But even here, we can notice his great precision and crystal-clear intonation.
But let us consider the special guests of this highly original program:
First is an arrangement made by the pianist’s father, Mr. Carlos Roque Alsina, of Maurice Ravel’s famous piano piece Menuet sur le nom de Haydn M.56.
This short piano piece, intensely romantic, is set for the trio in a very convincing way. While immensely popular, creating transcriptions can be tricky where it is necessary to add voices instead of reducing them.
In this case, it can be considered a real gem, and other trios will probably play it in the future.
Mr. Roque Alsina is the arranger of the other “special guest,” too.
It has been said that the veneration of Haydn by Johannes Brahms was omnipresent, so even if the great German Master never wrote anything on the Haydn themes, transposing his song “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” is only a logical consequence. Composed in 1886, it is the second of the Songs Op. 105, published by Johannes Brahms in 1888 and the first of several settings by important composers (including Orff, Pfitzner, and Strauss) of Hermann Lingg’s “Lied.”
The late Mr. Roque Alsina once again delivers a very sensitive arrangement, offering the trio a showcase for their abilities outside of Haydn’s classical world with the final “special guest”: composer Jacqueline Fontyn. Baroness Fontyn, born in 1930 in Antwerp-Belgium, has written this short three-movement work called Lieber Joseph (“Dear Joseph”) as an homage to Haydn, taking even the tempi names from Haydn: “Allegro moderato,” “Andante innocentemente,” and “Presto assai.”
Do not expect a neoclassical pastiche. This music, while perfectly 20th-century, with a beautiful center part of the second movement made exclusively by bangs, rumors, and extra-musical sounds, shares with Haydn the brilliance, charm, and immense richness of fantasy, but in no way themes or harmonic solutions. It is nevertheless the real surprise of this disc, a small gem, around which all the rest of the content seems to have its origins, logically impossible but in some strange way valid.
This sophomore release is very encouraging. Trio Ernest seems to have much to say in the future and surely deserves the public’s full attention. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Trio Ernest: ernestpianotrio.com
Read more by Giorgio Koukl.
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