Yuja Wang pf Andreas Ottensamer cl Gautier Capuçon vc

DG

‘Super-trios’ – the marketing tag of this Brahms-centric album – aren’t new. Think of Richter-Oistrakh-Rostropovich or Kempff-Szeryng-Fournier way back, Argerich-Jansen-Maisky more recently.

Wang and Capuçon grew out of the Verbier Festival a decade ago. Together with Ottensamer, solo clarinettist of the Berliner Philharmonic, cool efficiency is assured; their collective skills readily overcome tricky corners. Brahms’ E minor Cello Sonata is gritty and dark-veined, Wang making light of its pitfalls and contrapuntal knots. The Clarinet Trio is more indulgent and sectionalised, with stretched tempos tending to diminish certain phrases.

Rachmaninov didn’t have much in common with Brahms yet Capuçon-Wang uneasily attempt to suggest otherwise, evoking a more Germanic than Slavic personality, even in the phraseology of the Andante and Tolstoyan tune of the finale. But sugar-plum sentimentality proves no substitute for soul-mother poetics. The result favours individual players (Capuçon particularly) before content or context. The relatively airless recorded balance is less than ideal, needing more clarity and less congestion.