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| The Pasquier Trio |
The string trio repertoire is not large, but it is rich - and made richer by the efforts of the Pasquier Trio, three brothers (Jean, violin; Pierre, viola; Étienne, cello) for whom such composers as Pierné, Roussel,
Moeran and Françaix wrote string trios. The cornerstone of this repertoire is surely Mozart's wonderful Divertimento in E-Flat, K. 563. Who but Mozart, whose birthday we will be celebrating on January 27, could compose the greatest work ever written for the combination of violin, viola and cello, pouring the most profound of his ideas into it, and then modestly call the result a "divertimento"? Here is the work's first recording, and the first of three the Pasquier brothers would make:
Mozart: Divertimento in E-Flat, K. 563, for string trio
The Pasquier Trio
Recorded June 26-27, 1935
Columbia Masterworks set AM-351, five 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 107.13 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 66.49 MB)
This transfer is taken from a very nice early pressing of the American Columbia set, which has sustained a little wear (those early automatic changers did no favors for the spindle holes, I'm afraid), so I was surprised and pleased by how well the result sounds.
Thank you so very much for sharing your fine transfer of this wonderful recording. Would love to hear anything else you have by the great Pasquier group, especially the other two Mozart recordings you mentioned. Many thanks again.
ReplyDeleteWhat a considerate thing you are doing sharing items from your 78s collection. This is a very well-preserved one. I just acquired a CD with their 1972 performance of this piece and it will be interesting to compare how their view of the work changed over 35 years. Thanks so much for your effort.
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to the Pasquier LP from July, 1965 on MHS, licensed by Erato. Excellent acoustics and performance! Sounds better than any digital music I own. I could digitize this and upload it. I wonder if it's been done.
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