| Label: DG Catalog: 4778537 Format: CD David Oistrakh: violin; Lev Oborin: piano; Sviatoslav Knushevitsky: celloFrederic Chopin: Piano Trio in G minor, op.8
Maurice Ravel: Piano Trio
Antonin Dvorak: Dumky - Piano Trio, op.90
Bedrich Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor, op.15 A Golden Age of Collaboration: The Oborin-Oistrakh-Knushevitsky Trio
Although they won their greatest fame as soloists, Lev Oborin (1907-74), David Oistrakh (1908-74) and Sviatoslav Knushevitsky (1908-63) were dedicated players of chamber music. “It gives great joy," Oistrakh wrote, “not only to the listeners, but first of all to the performers themselves." He took part in several memorable ensembles with his friends: a sonata duo with Oborin, a piano quartet with Alexander Goldenweiser, Mikhail Terian and Knushevitsky, and a string quartet with Pyotr Bondarenko, Terian and Knushevitsky. All of these partnerships made superb recordings, but the most important of Oistrakh's chamber-music affiliations was the trio with Oborin and Knushevitsky. Listening to their surviving performances brings home to one that these musicians, players on an epic scale, could express themselves fully on smaller canvases as well. Although they could not help playing commandingly, each of them gave the impression of being a “first among equals". They clearly listened to each other, rather than going their own way as can happen with a celebrity piano trio, and constantly moderated their playing to that of their colleagues. For Oborin, Oistrakh and Knushevitsky, chamber music was a warm-hearted conversation. Price: $18.98 |