This 2023 release marks the recording debut of the young
Trio Nebelmeer
, whose evocative name ("
Sea of Fog Trio
") comes from that of a painting by German Romantic artist
Caspar David Friedrich
, Der Wanderer ueber dem Nebelmeer ("The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog"). The name is meant to suggest the group's attachment to Romantic repertory, and indeed, the listener gets arch-Romantic playing here. This is all to the good in the early
Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 3
, of
Ernest Chausson
. This passionate work has been recorded from time to time, but one can almost feel the disapproving frown with which it must have been received by the French academic establishment in its own day, and it has never had a secure place in the chamber music repertory. There is only one way to approach it, and that is with maximum intensity. That is what it gets here from
's full-bore approach. The more balanced
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 92
Saint-Saens
, itself not an everyday repertory item, is an ideal foil for the youthful
Chausson
: delicate, subtle, and detailed, and it is equally idiomatically performed. With excellent sound from an auditorium at the Conservatoire de Caen, this release announces major new chamber music talent. ~ James Manheim