It's unusual to find an identical programme on two discs in one month's reviewing. But, just as someone said that a cliche is a great truth staled by repetition, so it may be that this trio of French trios makes a natural grouping which we shall meet yet again now that Debussy's work in this form, written when he was only 18, has come to light and seemingly entered the repertory. They appear in the same order, too, on both the Teldec and Pickwick issues.
Music is such an international language that it seems almost irrelevant to note that neither of these ensembles is French, particularly since both get fairly well inside the music. Despite their French-sounding name, the Trio Fontenay is a group of young German musicians who have been playing together since 1980. I have heard and admired them in other music, for example trios by Rachmaninov and Mendelssohn, but they take a singularly cool view of the wonderfully languorous opening of the Ravel Trio, which is in an oddly shaped 8/8 time (the quavers are grouped 3+2+3) that reflects Basque music. While this movement takes on some of the necessary pulsating life as it develops, I don't think that this performance gives it enough character, or enough space to reflect the composer's tempo marking of Modere. The players make a bad mistake at figure 8 (5'13''), where Ravel marks au mouvt, en animant et augmentant peu a peu, in playing much more slowly than at the opening; most ensembles, including the Solomon Trio, quickly increase pace here. Still, they make up for it to some extent by then building a thrilling climax, while their playing is polished overall. The other movements are well judged if not sounding as breathlessly spontaneous as they can in the finest performances, and the stunning ending is—well, just that. The recording does justice to the sumptuous yet often delicate textures of one of Ravel's most beautiful and passionate utterances.
After that, alas, Debussy's Trio sounds like extremely small beer, and I can all too readily imagine the composer's fury at having this jejune piece (which he properly left unpublished during his lifetime) placed immediately after Ravel's mature masterpiece. Still, it looks as if it is going to get the exposure the composer would have denied it, for three new recordings have recently come my way. Apart from a finale which is lowish in voltage, this performance does much of what can be done for music which, for the most part, and most of all in the overlong first movement, lacks clear direction and personality, while being worth an occasional hearing for its odd auguries of greatness to come. Faure's Trio in D minor has more to offer the players and they respond well enough to it, though here I felt that the recording was too close for the composer's subtle textures to have enough space around them and the effect is rather thick in the many forte passages of the outer movements.
My first reaction to the Solomon Trio's account of the Ravel is that the opening is louder than the pianissimo marked in the score (the same is true of the passacaglia third movement), which seems to be all too common nowadays and must often be blamed on recording engineers who dislike seeing their sound level needles near zero. Still, for all the limited dynamic range (Ravel asks for everything from ppp to ff in the first movement) this is a warm and thoughtful performance and the Pantoum second movement, which is music with cross rhythms that are miraculous because they work as music, goes particularly well. Indeed, the account of the whole work is enjoyable without quite plumbing the sombre depths and vanquishing the dizzy heights which challenge every ensemble who undertake it.
Once again, the Debussy inevitably disappoints, but I find the Solomon Trio's performance more convincing than that of the Trio Fontenay because the British-based artists refuse, especially in the first movement, to linger over its gentle gestures and faded felicities and do not over-project the music as if attempting to compensate for its innate weakness. In the Faure, Timothy Hugh does justice to the eloquent cello writing, but the first movement does not flow along as easily as it should, and some of the playing is rather pedestrian both here and in the lengthy central Andantino. The recording could have more impact, but otherwise its mellow sound is pleasing enough.'