Moreau: A Family Affair
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Erato
Magazine Review Date: 01/2021
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 65
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 9029 52413-1
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Bagatelles |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
David Moreau, Violin Edgar Moreau, Cello Jérémie Moreau, Piano Raphaëlle Moreau, Violin |
Rusalka, Movement: O, moon high up in the deep, deep sky (O silver moon) |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Edgar Moreau, Cello Jérémie Moreau, Piano |
(Die) tote Stadt, Movement: ~ |
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Composer
Edgar Moreau, Cello Jérémie Moreau, Piano |
Suite |
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Composer
David Moreau, Violin Edgar Moreau, Cello Jérémie Moreau, Piano Raphaëlle Moreau, Violin |
Author: Richard Whitehouse
Nottingham is not the only city with a flourishing musical family, as this release by the Paris-born Moreau siblings makes abundantly clear. The programme confirms their prowess as an ensemble, any regret as to the absence of harmonium in Dvořák’s Bagatelles being dispelled by the adroit timbral interplay between Jérémie’s piano and Edgar’s cello in a performance which concludes with a rendering of the fifth piece as witty and affectionate as any before it.
Most impressive, even so, is Korngold’s Suite – a second commission from Paul Wittgenstein, whose finding of nothing to criticise with the instrumentation says much for this composer’s assurance. Jérémie fairly flies through the initial movement’s Prelude, its impetus carrying through the ensuing Fugue with its deft alternation of driving energy and plaintive lyricism. An appealingly wistful nostalgia pervades the Walzer; and if this scherzo is less Groteske than playful, it enables these players to segue seamlessly into a Trio of suave elegance. Nor is there any lack of expressive poise in the Lied, leading into a final Rondo whose variations demonstrates as sure a grasp of the music’s contrapuntal dexterity as of its overall momentum.
Edgar gains the spotlight in arrangements of evergreen items from Rusalka and Die tote Stadt, allowing his tonal eloquence full rein. The Bagatelles as initially scored are well served by the confiding restraint of the augmented Busch Trio, while Henri Sigfridsson and the Aron Quartet convey a more objective and integrated approach in the Suite. For the sheer frisson of music-making caught on the wing, however, this particular ‘Family Affair’ will prove hard to beat.
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