The
Fujita Piano Trio is a group of Japanese-born, London-based sisters who have released three discs thus far: a 2001 recording of Toru Takemitsu's chamber works followed by a 2003 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio, and then this 2006 recording coupling of the trios of
Shostakovich and
Ravel. But while the
Fujita sisters' readings of
Shostakovich's trios are persuasive enough, their account of
Ravel's trio is simply terrific. Their playing is lean and cool in all three works, with a strong but flexible tone, an elegant ensemble, and a buoyant sense of rhythm. These are, however, qualities that arguably work better in
Ravel's elegant modernism than in
Shostakovich's anguished modernism. Compare the sisters' elfin delicacy in
Ravel's "Pantoum" with their sinewy vigor in
Shostakovich's Allegretto from his Second Trio. The former is absolutely appropriate for the music's ethereal grace, but the latter has only a fraction of the emotional power needed to put across the music's bitter irony. Worth hearing for the
Ravel, the listener unfamiliar with
Shostakovich's trios may be better off pointed in the direction of the
Beaux Arts Trio's Philips recordings. Recorded in Studio 2 of Swedish Radio in Stockholm, the digital sound here is clean, close, and, at times, perhaps too intimate.