Catalogue

Summary:

Editor’s Choice “The playing throughout is simply exquisite. Recommended with all possible enthusiasm.” – Guy Rickards, Gramophone

“The Briggs Trio responds to the style with enormous affection, following the mood changes from passionate to witty with eagle ears, and it sounds as if they have been living with the music for a long time.” ★★★★/★★★★★ – Martin Cotton,  BBC Music magazine

Editor’s Choice  “Another new discovery for me this month has been Hans Gál’s 1925 Piano Trio, which receives expansive, ardent advocacy from the newly-formed Briggs Trio; I was expecting something darker and altogether more acerbic from the Austro-British composer, so the open-hearted lyricism and sweeping melodies (shades of Rachmaninov in places) took me quite by surprise. Do give it a try.” – PrestoMusic 

Recording of the Month “All three players approach this movement in an unbridled way to create a vast macabre distortion before the music subsides one final time. This is an inspirational performance of one of the greatest chamber music works of the 20th Century…  this is outstanding playing by the Briggs Trio and this recording is recommended without reservation.” – Robert Beattie, MusicWebInternational.com 

“Urgently recommended” – Jerry Dubins, Fanfare

“The Briggs Piano Trio are excellent advocates of this music [Gal], preserving its essential charm, never over-forcing the livelier passages, and achieving an impeccably judged balance between parts… This [Shostakovich], as much as the two Gál pieces, is a performance of huge dedication and expressive honesty…  this is an unusually interesting and involving disc that should be on the shelves of anyone with an interest in 20th-century chamber music.” – Europadisc 

“Together they lend most eloquent advocacy to this rewarding repertoire. [Gál] … these thoughtful, uncommonly articulate performers more than hold their own in a fiercely crowded field. [Shostakovich] – Classical Ear 

“She combines splendidly with violinist David Juritz and cellist Kenneth Woods … Hans Gál’s Viennese roots shine through every bar here … The ensemble’s rhythmic vitality is ideal for the Gál trio’s spacious opening, but also for the jaunty, piano-led allegro in the finale. – Martin Dreyer, The York Press 

“The Briggs Piano Trio is an excellent ensemble, and as at home with the methodical elaboration of the Gal as it is with the more intuitive unfolding of the Shostakovich. … Recommended.” – Richard Whitehouse, Arcana.fm

Continuing AVIE’s acclaimed and influential series of recordings of the music of Austrian émigré Hans Gál, this latest release brings together two of today’s most eminent Gál interpreters, Sarah Beth Briggs and Kenneth Woods with violin virtuoso David Juritz for a recording of Gál’s breathtakingly lyrical Piano Trio in E major and his witty Variations on a Popular Viennese Tune. Gál’s music and destiny was shaped by war and political upheaval, as was that of Dmitri Shostakovich, whose Piano Trio in E minor, one of the monuments of 20th century chamber music, is a harrowing souvenir of the times in which it was written.

Tracklist:

HANS GÁL (1890–1987)

Piano Trio in E, Op. 18 (28.41)
1. I. Tranquillo ma con moto (11.58)
2. II. Allegro violento (5.42)
3. III. Adagio mesto (11.01)

4.Variationen über eine Wiener Heurigenmelodie, Op. 9 (7.10)
(Variations on a Popular Viennese Tune)

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)

Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 (27.08)
5. I. Andante (7.36)
6. II. Allegro con brio (3.05)
7. III. Largo (5.15)
8. IV. Allegretto (11.12)

Total time: 63.05

Briggs Piano Trio
Sarah Beth Briggs, piano
David Juritz, violin
Kenneth Woods, cello

Recording: 11–13 March 2018, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
Recording produced, engineered and edited by Simon Fox-Gál