The Gould Piano Trio appeared on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ yesterday, in advance of their performances in Cambridge and Scotland with Robert Plane, and the release of their new Schubert album.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny, the episode featured live performances by the Trio as well as the broadcast of their Resonus recording of the third movement of Schubert’s monumental Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D929, a work which appears on their much heralded second volume of the composer’s piano trios. Remaining at the forefront of the international chamber music scene for well over a quarter of a century, the members of the Trio remarked on their sense of being ‘ready’ to make their recording of this seminal work.
The Trio’s first live performance on the episode was of the second movement of Judith Weir’s 1998 Piano Trio no. 1, Describing a movement that was inspired by the idea of receiving a call from a phone box in Africa, cellist Richard Lester drew the listeners’ attention to Weir’s use of unusual instrumental colours such as sul ponticello.
Clarinettist Robert Plane joined the Trio to perform the second movement of Huw Watkins’ Four Fables, a work that they commissioned and have gone on to perform over thirty times since its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in 2018. Speaking about their mission to expand the repertoire for clarinet and piano trio, Plane remarked that Watkins’ work has proved ‘amazingly popular’ with audiences, going on to talk about their recent collaborations with composers Diana Burrell and Piers Hellawell.
In addition to discussing the release on 23rd January of their new Schubert album, the Trio spoke about their ongoing project to record the complete chamber music for strings and piano of Heinrich Marschner, the first two volumes of which have been released by Naxos. To close the episode, the Trio performed the 1st movement of Haydn’s Piano Trio no. 44 in E major.
Following their performance at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge this evening, the Gould Piano Trio and Robert Plane will perform works by Judith Weir, Piers Hellawell, Josef Holbrooke and Mendelssohn for the Kelso Music Society in Scotland this weekend.
You can listen to the progamme on BBC Radio 3 here, with their first appearance at about 01:14:00
