CUTHBERT SMITH (Baritone); THE GERSHOM PARKINGTON TRIO
IN Mendelssohn's two Trios there is much to admire-in particular their sincerity, tunefulness and good, clean workmanship.
The D Minor Trio (his Op. 49) has four Movements. The First is suavely hurried and well marked in its three-beat rhythm. The Second is more tranquil, and very melodious, as it goes steadily along in four square time. The deft Scherzo follows, and then the last Movement, the most characteristic of the four, opens with a rhythm that is seldom absent for long. It is tapped in chords or sung in melodies, now loud, now soft, all through the Movement.
HERE is a bracing piece of music, if ever there was one! It haatlie tonic effect of a tramp in the fresh, keen air of spring.
The vigorous First Movement is built upon two Main Tunes, the first of which, crisp and brief, is hoard light away at the opening. After some episodical matter, the Violin and 'Cello give out, in octaves, the broad Second Main Tune.
The Second Movement is in ' Scherzo ' style—light, quick and lithe ; the third Movement goes in blended rhythms of twos and threes —a favourite Brahmsian device, and the Last Movement is aa energetic as the First.