Robert Plane and the Gould Piano Trio have been giving concerts, recording and touring together for thirty years.
They were initially brought together in performances of Messiaen’s monumental Quartet for the End of Time, a work of extraordinary power, luminous beauty and spiritual enrichment. They’ve given countless performances over the years, particularly in 2008, the centenary of Messiaen’s birth, when they also made their CD recording for Chandos, hailed by BBC Music Magazine as the ‘finest modern recording’ of this epic masterpiece, and garnering acclaim across the press.
“An admirably well judged, scrupulously expressive performance” Gramophone
“Its performance here is exemplary” Album of the Week, The Independent
Perhaps the immensity of Messiaen’s work is responsible for the relatively few works for this combination of instruments. In a quest to change this, the ensemble have commissioned new pieces that have received performances from Wigmore Hall and a US premiere in Portland, Oregon at the distinguished Friends of Chamber Music series, to Festivals and music societies throughout the UK. Their most recent commission, Piers Hellawell’s The Rising of Sirius, celebrates St. Wilfrid’s founding of the home of the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival, which Robert and the Trio co-direct in Northumberland. To mark the 20th-anniversary of the Festival, Huw Watkins composed Four Fables for the ensemble, an inspired, poetic and exhilarating work which has received over 30 performances since its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in 2018, and their recording of which was released in July 2023 on the Resonus label.
Their CD collaborations include cycles of the complete trios of Beethoven and Brahms, as well as rarities of the twentieth century English repertoire by Bax, Stanford, York Bowen, Cyril Scott and Robin Milford. February 2023 saw the release of their latest joint album, a disc of chamber works by Pamela Harrison receiving their world premiere recordings, which was given a special feature in Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine and was selected as one of Gramophone Magazine’s “best new classical albums”.