Brahms • C Schumann: Piano Trio etc

Brahms • C Schumann
Brahms: Double Concerto for Violin and Cello; C Schumann: Piano Trio*
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Pablo Ferrández (cello), *Lambert Orkis (piano); Czech Philharmonic/Manfred Honeck
Sony Classical 19658741102   60:08 mins

Taken from live concerts in Prague earlier this year, the Double Concerto opens with a bold statement from the orchestra, immediately contradicted by Pablo Ferrández’s wayward, stop-go cadenza. Brahms did ask for it to be played in the style of a recitative, but also marked it ‘always in time’. Anne-Sophie Mutter is better disciplined, but, as the movement continues, there’s still a lot of pulling the music around. The Andante can take more flexibility, which the soloists give, producing lovely intense sounds much of the time, although they sometimes veer into sentimentality with heavy vibrato – Mutter in particular. The Finale is the most successful part of the performance, with buoyancy in the Hungarian-flavoured rondo theme, and contrast projected but not overdone in the episodes.

Clara Schumann has a better ride, the warm but detailed studio recording giving coherence to the sound. There’s an urgency to the turbulent first movement, generating excitement but allowing for plenty of felicitous touches in phrasing and attack. The scherzo has a cheeky rhythmic lift, and the contrast in the trio is precisely imagined, as is the middle section of the Andante, whose relatively short duration belies its emotional depth. And, despite the minor key, the final Allegretto starts with a genial air, only to become surprisingly aggressive at times, especially in the fugal section.

Martin Cotton