Here’s your Disc of the week for Sept. 8, 2012. Each week CBC Radio 2’s In Concert looks at new classical music releases and selects one recording that you’ll want to know about.
Artists: Triple Forte
Repertoire: Piano Trios by Ravel, Shostakovich and Ives
Label: ATMA Classique
This trio of terrific 30-something Canadian musicians is made up of Jasper Wood, violin; Yegor Dyachkov, cello, and David Jalbert, piano. Each has a thriving solo career; they’re also respected teachers at Canadian universities. Individually and collectively, these Canadian musicians are at the top of their game.
Since forming in 2003, Triple Forte has gained fans across the country, a following that will no doubt only increase with this debut disc. The focus here is on the music of 20th-century masters: Charles Ives, Maurice Ravel and Dmitri Shostakovich. It’s music of rewarding depth and sophistication and Triple Forte approaches all three selections with panache.
I’m particularly drawn to Shostakovich’s Trio in C minor, written in 1923 when the composer was 17 years old and in love for the first time. This rarely heard work wasn’t published until after the composer’s death. In one movement, it’s laden with adolescent angst as well as a gentle, childlike sweetness that’s not often associated with the crusty Soviet composer.
Listen here to the brilliant Canadian trio known as Triple Forte and the Shostakovich Trio no. 1.
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