The performances on this disc were originally issued in 1999 and are a richly merited reissue.
Ravel disparaged his own Piano Trio, telling the performers at the premiere that "I prefer the ingenuous power of my Quartet to the scholarship of the Trio." "Scholarship" is an odd word for the work -- there is nothing either academic or antique about it -- but it does exist at the opposite emotional pole from La Valse. It is not a serious piece. Annotator
Marcel Marnat described the opening Allegro as "a model of nonchalant luminosity," and that description might apply to much of the music on the disc. The little-heard piano trio by
Ernest Chausson, from early in that late bloomer's compositional career, is a perfect accompaniment for the
Ravel. Its central movements are its best ones. Sample the series of feints and half-finished ideas that serves as an introduction to the scherzo-like second movement, track 6, and stick around for the main theme, a model of deceptive simplicity. The performance by
Trio Wanderer is ideal, with a combination of gentle lyricism and lively alertness that brings to mind some of the classic French chamber groups of yore. Especially at a bargain price, this is a disc that should find a place in any large chamber music collection.