Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio, Op. 50 - Dvorák: Piano Trio No. 3 (Live)

Recorded live at the 2018 Aix-en-Provence Festival, this performance has a special intensity. Three superb players (Shani is better known nowadays as a conductor) have evident rapport and they’ve chosen two works written at almost exactly the same time, both of which are inspired by loss. Tchaikovsky’s two-movement trio, written in memory of his friend Nikolai Rubinstein, who was only 45 when he died, is imbued with sadness and quiet rage; these three players engage completely with its power and passion. Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 3 was written after the death of the composer's mother and, although gentler in tone, it too has real power.