Brahms Trio: History of the Russian Piano Trio Vol.8

The Strad Issue: October 2025

Description: Two Russian expats are the latest in this intriguing series

Musicians: Brahms Trio

Works: Juon: Piano Trio no.1; Suite in C major. Lopatnikoff: Piano Trio in A minor

Catalogue number: NAXOS 8.574689

The eighth volume of the Brahms Trio’s survey of Russian piano trios alights on music by a pair of composers who settled either temporarily or permanently in Berlin. Nikolai Lopatnikoff (1903–76) was born in Reval (Tallinn), studied in St Petersburg and passed through Berlin (1928–33) en route to an academic and performing career in the USA. Paul Juon (1872–1940), on the other hand, was brought up as a German in Moscow and relocated to Berlin in 1897.

Lopatnikoff’s A minor Trio of 1932 marries a strain of Russian emotionalism with the latest styles: the modal piquancy of Debussy and the harmonic asperity of Hindemith rub shoulders in the large-scale opening Allegro; then come an almost Mendelssohnian scherzo, a tear-stained Andante and a folkish finale.

From the same year comes Juon’s Suite of five pithy movements alternating melancholy and playfulness, only the fourth lasting longer than three minutes. His weightier A minor First Trio of 1901 more readily demonstrates his characteristic deployment of folk-style material with a decidedly Brahmsian accent.

These players are steadfast advocates for this rarely heard repertoire. Could the finale of the Lopatnikoff have benefited from an extra spoonful of devilry? No matter: this is a premiere recording so is self-recommending. And other recordings of the two Juon works are hardly thick on the ground, imparting further value to this attractive recording.

David Threasher