New String Trio recording

I've been waiting for this disc for a while. The Jacques Thibaud Trio Berlin has been performing the great String Trio recently. It's one of my favourite chamber works of Villa-Lobos, and it's nice to have another recording. I'm a big fan of this kind of programming on CD: the JTTB has chosen three string trios written in 1944 (Gideon Klein, who died soon after at Auschwitz), 1945 (Villa-Lobos) and 1946 (Arnold Schoenberg).

This blog seems to be stuck in 1945 (which was a busy year for Villa-Lobos). Read the last few posts for more.

The Adaskin Trio in Lexington

In a concert next week in Lexington KY, the Canadian chamber music ensemble the Adaskin String Trio will be playing the great String Trio of Villa-Lobos. I love this quote from the Charleston Gazette on their website:

"Normally, when three Canadians play a Czech on a Saturday night in Charleston (WV), it means you're watching a National Hockey League game on television. The Canadian trio gave a brilliant performance of the piece (Martinu's String Trio)."

The group is named for Canadian composer Murray Adaskin (1906-2002), whose music sometimes seems a bit like a Great White North version of some of Villa-Lobos's. They both share an interest in folk music and a tendency towards neo-classicism. There are some samples of Adaskin's music here, on the Canadian Music Centre website.

By the way, I consider Villa's String Trio as one of his strongest chamber music pieces, and one of the masterpieces of his late period.

More New CDs

Another cpo new release contains a well-chosen concert of VL's chamber music for strings. The Deutsches Streichtrio performs three duos: the Deux Choros Bis (1929) for violin and cello, a version of the 1921 Choros #2 for violin and cello, and the 1946 Duo for violin and viola. Best of all they've included one of VL's masterworks, the String Trio written in 1945. A disc with this repertoire is pretty much self-recommending, and Bert's thumb's up clinches the deal for me.

It's a good time for new Villa-Lobos from Europe. Bert also likes the new Lorelt disc with the BBC Singers and the Ensemble Lontano, under the direction of Odaline de la Martinez. This disc also includes the Deux Choros Bis, with the addition of some other chamber works: Choros 7 (1924) and the early modernist masterpieces the Quatour Symbolique and the Sexteto Mistico. Best of all, there's the original version of Bachianas Brasileiras #9, for an "orchestra of voices." This is apparently a re-issue of a disc recorded in the early 1990's.

It's like the people at cpo and Lorelt were listening to my wish-lists. Now, if they'd turn to the Nonetto and the operas Yerma (1955) and Daughter of the Clouds (1957)....