Rachmaninoff: Trio Élègiaque in D Minor & G Minor
These two trios, both of a lamentatious, elegiac character, might be called "Homage to Tchaikovsky." Indeed, the longer one, in D-minor, Op. 9, was written in 1893 to express the 20-year-old composer's grief at the venerated master's death and, like Tchaikovsky's own Trio, written in memory of his mentor Nikolai Rubinstein 10 years earlier, is entitled "In Memory of a Great Artist." The young Rachmaninoff was obviously under his hero's influence, and pays him the ultimate homage of echoing his Trio's form and style, with a discursive first movement, variations on a chorale theme for the long central slow one, and a pugnacious, brilliant Finale. Clearly written by a virtuoso pianist, the piece still gives the strings a lot to do, but it is compromised by too much repetitiveness, both in small figures and overall design. The one-movement G-minor Trio, written a year earlier, is more inspired melodically and concise structurally. The record's most arresting element is the playing, which underlines the music's strengths and almost conceals its weaknesses. Golub is dazzling in his bravura part, yet he's a supportive collaborator; the string players sound wonderful, by turns warm and radiant, unfailingly expressive but never sentimental.--Edith Eisler