GEORGY L’VOVICH CATOIRE (1861–1926)

Chamber music

Room-Music

Stephen Coombs - piano

Charles Sewart - violin

Yuko Inoue - viola

Philip de Groote - cello

Piano Trio in F minor Op 14

1 Allegro moderato

2 Allegretto fantastico

3 Molto allegro agitato

4 Elegy in D minor for violin and piano Op 26

Piano Quartet in A minor Op 31

5 Moderato

6 Andante

7 Molto allegro

The pioneering chamber ensemble Room-Music met with considerable critical acclaim with their debut recording of music by Reynaldo Hahn.

An early supporter of the deeply mistrusted Wagnerian musical innovations and a protégé of Tchaikovsky, Catoire overcame familial objections to forge a musical career which saw him become professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatoire and the spiritual father of a whole generation of compatriot composers.

The Piano Trio in F minor of 1900 is the first in a series of important chamber compositions. Confident and virtuosic, this early work reminds the listener of Tchaikovsky and Arensky, even Rachmaninov, as its soaring themes of considerable innate beauty constantly serve to enhance a reputation for melodic genius.

The Quartet in A minor dates from sixteen years later. The composer’s more mature style takes us into the world of Scriabin, a sense of fluidity pervading this music of ingenious harmonic shifts and rhythmical subtlety.

Stephen Coombs and Charles Sewart complete the programme with a stunning performance of the miniature Elegy in D minor, one of Catoire’s few works to have been published outside of his native Russia.

Hyperion CDA67512