Chaminade • Poulenc • R Schumann Poulenc: Cello Sonata*; R Schumann: Papillons; Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor†; Chaminade: Piano Trio No. 1*† Martina Consonni (piano), †Sarah Jégou-Sageman (violin),*Jeein You (cello) Erato 5419764269 70:09 mins
Gautier Capuçon’s foundation for emerging young musicians is an admirable initiative which includes the opportunity to record an album; this instalment presents three graduates of the 2022 programme. Bringing them together is Chaminade’s Piano Trio No. 1, a substantial and dramatic work in the Brahmsian mode which shows off their virtuosity to the full, and shows what Chaminade might have achieved in larger forms had she not been diverted into (albeit highly successful) miniatures.
Here it’s the leaping arpeggios of the first movement and the brightly dancing Scherzo that give the work its character; cellist Jeein You intones the melody of the Andante sonorously, but sometimes gets overwhelmed in the busy exchanges for violin and piano. Martina Consonni’s luminous piano playing is outstanding, as it is throughout the recording, accompanying You in Poulenc’s witty but rather thin Cello Sonata, and Jégou-Sageman in the much more substantial Schumann Violin Sonata No. 1, strongly driven and articulated by both players.
Consonni comes across as the highly promising star of this trio, especially in her solo work, Schumann’s ever-fresh Papillions. She has a delightful flow and momentum to her playing, though with a tendency to pause slightly over the first beat of the bar. Schumann’s characters here are vivid and well sculpted.
A doubtless unintended consequence of this waltz-dominated set is a slight excess of triple-time!
Nicholas Kenyon