Three of Ravel’s chamber works, none currently available in the catalogue, all coupled at budget price. The Beaux Arts’ magnificent, full-throttle reading of the Piano Trio is their most recent (1983) recording of this work. The Carmirelli Quartet recorded for Decca in the 1950s and theirs is a demure reading of the String Quartet. Eduard van Beinum fans will rejoice in the issue, for the first time on CD, of the ‘Introduction et Allegro’, featuring the Concertgebouw’s long-time harpist, Phia Berghout. Recorded in 1952, it was originally released on a Decca EP, coupled with Debussy’s ‘Danse sacrée et danse profane’ (now reissued on Philips Eloquence 476 8500).
MAURICE RAVEL
Piano Trio in A minor
Beaux Arts Trio
Introduction et Allegro
Phi Berghout, harp
Chamber Music Society of Amsterdam
Eduard van Beinum
String Quartet in F major
Carmirelli Quartet
Pina Carmirelli, violin I
Montserrat Cervera, violin II
Luigi Sagrati, viola
Arturo Bonucci, cello
‘this new Beaux Arts performance, even more than their previous one, is most sensitive to the music’s ebb and flow, acutely aware of its inventive new combinations of sounds … the new Beaux Arts recording now becomes the prime recommendation’ Gramophone