The Gould Piano Trio has embarked on a major recording project for Naxos featuring the piano trios and quartets by Heinrich August Marschner.
The Gould Piano Trio will record seven piano trios and two piano quartets by the brilliant but little-known composer Heinrich August Marschner (1795-1861), for release as a four disc collection by Naxos. Following their first recording sessions for the project last year, the trio are excited to be returning to the studio in April 2024.
Although not well-known to modern day listeners, Marschner was respected by his contemporaries, most notably Robert Schumann, who is known to have greatly admired his piano trios. Marschner held esteemed positions in the musical world of the mid-nineteenth century, including Kapellmeister at Leipzig City Theatre and Court Kapellmeister at Hannover, and as director of the Dresden Opera oversaw productions of operas by close friend and fellow composer Carl Maria von Weber.
In the trio’s words:
‘Heinrich Marschner is not a composer’s name that rings many bells except among the truly initiated, and to our surprise this early romantic, German opera composer has also penned no less than seven ‘Grand Piano Trios’! …. We’ve discovered elfin scherzos, (more akin to Mendelssohn) with a devilish twist, set aside spacious slow movements that provide the violin and cello the chance to ‘vocalise’ to their heart’s content. How could these fascinating pieces have fallen from the repertoire?’
The Goulds have a distinguished reputation for championing the diversity of composition for piano trio, both in concert and in their extensive discography. In addition to their highly praised recordings of the standard works, the trio have thrown light on long neglected gems from the piano trio repertoire, including Leokadiya Kashperova’s Piano Trio, late romantic British repertoire such as trios by C.V. Stanford and John Ireland, plus fascinating works by Bax, Milford, York Bowen and Cyril Scott, and chamber music by Pamela Harrison with clarinettist and Tashmina artist Robert Plane.
This highly anticipated project, initiated by Naxos and its founder Klaus Heymann, is one that the Gould Piano Trio is poised to take on as one of the leading trios of their generation, compared in the Washington Post to the great Beaux Arts Trio for their “musical fire” and “dedication to the genre”.
The Gould Piano Trio can be heard performing Marschner’s Piano Trio no. 2 in G minor, Op. 111 at the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival fund-raiser concert, of which they serve as artistic directors alongside Robert Plane, on Saturday 2nd March. Additionally, they will perform the Piano Trio No. 6 in C minor, Op. 148 at the Richmond Concert Society on Tuesday 16th April, with more information available here. They are also playing no. 6 at Bromsgrove on 23rd February and Whitstable on 24th February.
