Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Trio no. 1 in B-flat Major, D. 898
Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 664
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Trio no. 2 in C Major, op. 87
Jelly d’Arányi (violin)
Felix Salmond (cello; Schubert)
Gaspar Cassadó (cello, Brahms)
Myra Hess (piano)
rec. December 1927 (Schubert trio), February 1928 (Schubert sonata), October 1935 (Brahms trio)
Biddulph Recordings 85061-2 [85]

Biddulph’s newest historical offering dishes up a very full album featuring three classic recordings with Myra Hess holding down the fort at the piano. The purpose of the release may be to spotlight violinist d’Arányi; her recordings have been hard to find in the past, but Biddulph put out her complete Columbia solo discs just a few months ago. [See my colleague Jonathan Woolf’s review of that disc here.] For those who know of d’Arányi solely from her connection with Ravel’s Tzigane, the playing in these chamber items will come as a surprise. Jonathan Woolf is right on the money with his closing assessment of her solo discs: “Jelly d’Arányi was a fine player whose reputation as a fiery exponent is perhaps more reflective of the repertoire with which she was associated. Her recordings show a rather more cultured, reserved and elegant player at her best in older music.” Anyone expecting a brash Hungarian violinist who throws her weight around à la the delightful Roby Lakatos will be disappointed. She plays with a rather small, chaste sound with a narrow vibrato. She is at her best in moments either elfin or energetic in nature, such as the Rondo finale of the Schubert trio. The slow movements of the trios highlight her old-fashioned portamenti and the thin nature of her timbre, which is reminiscent of her teacher Jenő Hubay.

The two cellists, Felix Salmond and Gaspar Cassadó, play well in the Schubert and Brahms trios respectively without drawing attention to themselves. Salmond valiantly hurls himself into the action in the first movement of the Schubert but then seems to recede into the background as the trio develops. In the Brahms, the vibrant (read: his vibrato is very fast) Cassadó tends to play on the sharp side of the pitch at all times, which is not always a wonderful match for d’Arányi, whose slow vibrato at times gives the impression of a lower pitch.

Myra Hess is…Myra Hess. Although she is not domineering from a tonal standpoint (she impeccably balances her sound with her string colleagues), the subtlety of her color and touch place her on a different level from her colleagues. Listen to the staccato scales in the first movement of the Schubert trio, the articulation she gives chords in the more energetic moments of the Brahms, or her consistently intriguing underlining and shaping of the bass lines throughout the disc. These and other similar musical touches pull my focus as a listener from her less-imposing string colleagues over and over again. As a result, these trio recordings would never be a primary reference, but if I were to ever perform the works, I would listen with the express intention of pilfering some of her cornucopia of ideas.

Most listeners will likely already be familiar with Hess’s recording of the “little” Schubert A Major sonata, which most definitely is a reference recording. Her pace in the first movement is slower than many, but she was likely responding to the “Allegro moderato” indication in the score. The music unfolds easily, and I find that the few shadows that flit across the score in the development section have more weight given the happy-go-lucky nature of exposition in Hess’s hands. The second movement is a masterclass in the voicing and subtle coloring of chords and also features gorgeous melodic projection and shaping across the board. The scales in the final movement glitter like strings of pearls, and her accuracy in Schubert’s more awkward arpeggiated figures is impressive.

Richard Masters

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free