Hanna Hurwitz’ New Trio Album … of Sorts

Cover of the booklet for the album being discussed (courtesy of Neuma Records)

One week from today Neuma Records will release The Night Shall Break, an album of five seldom-performed chamber music compositions, all of which deserve more attention. This is a trio album of sorts led by violinist Hanna Hurwitz, who performs with Daniel Pesca on piano and cellist Colin Stokes. As is often the case, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

All three of the musicians play together on only one selection, a three-movement piano trio by Rebecca Clarke. Ironically, in spite of that “deserve more attention” epithet, I am no stranger to this trio, having written about recordings of it by both the Neave Trio and the Trio des Alpes, the latter going back to when I was writing for Examiner.com. According to my records, I was fortunate enough to listen to this work in performance by the Ives Collective, when they gave an Old First Concerts recital in May of 2022. Nevertheless, in spite of all that experience, I seem to need consistent reminders of just how engaging this trio is! Hurwitz and her colleagues have definitely reinforced those reminders.

The other four selections on the album are all duo performances. Stokes makes only one other appearance, performing the first of two duos composed for violin and cello in 1927 by Bohuslav Martinů. This is a two-movement composition with an Andante moderato prelude a little over four minutes in length followed by an Allegro con brio rondo that is about nine minutes long. Martinů may receive more attention than Clarke. However, this took place primarily during the late twentieth century after he had settled in New York. Since the beginning of this current century, he seems to have dropped out of favor, which, given his imaginative inventiveness, is a pity. This particular duo may be on the modest side, but there is much to be gained from attentive listening.

The remaining selections are duos performed by Hurwitz and Pesca. In “order of appearance” these are the first of two “fantasy” pieces, composed in 1929 in the key of G minor by Florence Price, a four-movement sonatina (all movements lasting less than two minutes) by Carlos Chávez, and the “Thème et variations” composed by Olivier Messiaen in 1932. The last of these is the most developed of the compositions; and, as its Wikipedia page observes, it is one of the composer’s most accessible works. I would even go as far as to say that it may be the most playful work than Messiaen ever wrote (or at least published)! There is also more than a bit of playfulness in the “short and sweet” movements of the Chávez sonatina.

Where my own listening experiences are concerned, the Price selection is in the same category as the Clarke trio. It was given a throughly engaging account (along with two other Price compositions, all of which seem to have been world premiere tracks) on violinist Randall Goosby’s debut Roots album. Nevertheless, I wrote about that performance in June of 2021; and, sadly, it has slipped from memory since then. Hurwitz’ reminder of this composition was definitely welcome!