…
“…The Goulds, as one might expect, do fine things with [the first piano trio]. This really is a conversation piece, with cellist Alice Neary responding to Lucy Gould’s lofty violin phrases with lyrical warmth and the occasional moment of truculence, while pianist Benjamin Frith gently but firmly mediates between the two…”
The two piano trios, much underrated, could also perhaps be described as conversation pieces, albeit between three even-handed participants. In his booklet note, Terry Blain writes perceptively on how Saint-Saëns’s determination to keep private emotions out of his output is often undermined by the depth of feeling the best of it contains, and the Goulds’ interpretations carefully probe the resulting ambiguities without losing sight of formal logic or musical argument for a second.
“…Drama and refinement combine in the playing [of the second piano trio], too, and nothing seems forced or overstated, with tone and mood immaculately judged.”
The recording itself is beautifully balanced: listening on headphones, I really felt as if I were sitting in a room with the Goulds themselves at a private performance for an audience of one. Very fine.