Gesualdo Six - Radiant Dawn - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Martin Chalifour - Martin Chalifour & la Phil in Walt Disney [COMPACT DISCS] date 09/27/2011

From the moment the first notes of the trio by Claude Debussy reached my ears, I knew that this evening would be an unforgettable experience. (I. León in La Jornada, Mexico) When the Gelius Trio members first played together in 1999 while recording an album with compositions by Dorothee Eberhardt, it was such a positive encounter that they founded their own ensemble. The two string players' experience as concertmasters of the Munich Phliharmonic Orchestra, playing under the direction of the most famous conductors in our epoch, is exceedingly enriching the cooperation. The eponym Micaela Gelius knows how to let the piano sing, empathetically accompanying, but also showing her pianistic finesses. The trio is known for the unity of the musicians' phrasings and for tonal beauty, passion and depth of feeling. It's extensive repertory includes trios from the classic to the contemporary period documented on six albums. On this , the trio presents works by Anton Arensky, Arno Babadjanyan, and Dimitri Shostakovich.

The expressive extremity of the music and the notoriety of the life seem inextricably bound together where Gesualdo is concerned. Here, his Maundy Thursday Tenebrae Responsories provide the climax of a program which opens with an astonishingly fine rendition of the Tallis Lamentations.