Mozart: Trio K. 496 & Trio K. 442 (Completed by Robert Levin) Robert Levin, Hilary Hahn & Alain Meunier

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Piano Trio, K. 442:
• 1 Piano Trio, K. 442: I. Allegro (Completed by Robert Levin) 12:20
• 2 Piano Trio, K. 442: II. Tempo di Menuetto (Completed by Robert Levin) 06:42
• 3 Piano Trio, K. 442: III. Allegro (Completed by Robert Levin) 11:21
• Piano Trio, K. 496:
• 4 Piano Trio, K. 496: I. Allegro 12:24
• 5 Piano Trio, K. 496: II. Andante 06:03
• 6 Piano Trio, K. 496: III. Allegretto 09:34
• Total Runtime 58:24

Info for Mozart: Trio K. 496 & Trio K. 442 (Completed by Robert Levin)

Größen der Kammermusik haben sich für ein Konzert im besonderen Rahmen und eine Aufnahme bei einem kleinen Label zusammengefunden. Die drei Musiker interpretieren zwei Klaviertrios von Mozart, wobei neben dem ersten in G-Dur das andere sich aus überlieferten Entwürfen ergibt, die der Pianist der Aufnahme, Robert Levin, aus seiner intimen Kenntnis der Musik Mozarts heraus komplettiert hat. Während das G-Dur Trio sein erstes als Trio bezeichnetes und ausgearbeitetes Werk ist, andere vorhergehende Stücke in dieser Besetzung erhielten den Titel Divertimento, ist die Geschichte zu den drei unter der Nummer 442 des Köchel Verzeichnisses zusammen gefassten Sätze unklar. Es gibt eine bisher ungelöste Diskussion darüber, ob die Sätze 1783 oder 1796, wie das G-Dur Werk entstanden sind. Für beide Deutungen lassen sich mangels Quellen Argumente anführen. Obwohl Abbe Stadler, ein Schüler von Mozart, schon früh die drei, warum auch immer, unvollendeten Sätze bereits fortgeschrieben hat, ergab diese Lösung für Robert Levin kein gültiges Ergebnis. So merkt er beispielsweise an, dass Mozart alle Kopfsätze in Moll enden ließ, Stadler aber einen Dur-Schluss komponierte. Dies hat Levin nunmehr nach seinen Überzeugungen geändert. Zusammen ergeben die beiden fast gleich langen Trios ein beredtes Bild des kammermusikalischen Schaffens von Mozart.

Mit dem ausgewiesenen Experten Robert Levin am Piano ist der Boden für eine inspirierte Interpretation bereitet. Und die Geigerin Hilary Hahn, die mit schlafwandlerischer Sicherheit technische Aufgaben löst und Klarheit und Präsenz in ihrem Spiel pflegt, aber sonst auch mal mit etwas zu viel Süße agiert hat, stellt sich ganz in den Kontext und liefert eine zurückgenommene und trotzdem aktive Position im Trio dar, die für ihren Part die Gleichberechtigung der Instrumente zeigt. Mit Alain Meunier am Cello tritt ein Musiker hinzu, der durch sein langjähriges Zusammenspiel als Kammermusiker eine reife Erfahrung in der Integration in ein Ensemble erworben hat, die er hier uneigennützig hinzugesellt. So zeigt diese Aufnahme neben einer zumindest partiellen Weltneuheit von Mozart drei Künstler im vertrauensvollen Umgang miteinander für die Musik." (Uwe Krusch, www.pizzicato.lu)

Robert Levin, Klavier
Hilary Hahn, Violine
Alain Meunier, Cello

Robert Levin
Pianist and Conductor Robert Levin has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. His solo engagements include the orchestras of Atlanta, Berlin, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Utah and Vienna on the Steinway with such conductors as Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Bernard Haitink, Sir Neville Marriner, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen. On period pianos he has appeared with the Academy of Ancient Music, English Baroque Soloists, Handel & Haydn Society, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood, Sir Charles Mackerras, Nicholas McGegan, and Sir Roger Norrington.

Renowned for his improvised embellishments and cadenzas in Classical period repertoire, Robert Levin has made recordings for DG Archiv, CRI, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, ECM, New York Philomusica, Nonesuch, Philips and SONY Classical. These include a Mozart concerto cycle for Decca; a Beethoven concerto cycle for DG Archiv (including the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s arrangement of the Fourth Concerto for piano and string quintet); and the complete Bach harpsichord concertos with Helmuth Rilling, as well as the six English Suites (on piano) and both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier (on five keyboard instruments) as part of Hänssler’s 172-CD Edition Bachakademie. ECM will be releasing his traversal of the Mozart piano sonatas on Mozart’s piano. He is a regular partner of cellist Steven Isserlis, with whom he recorded the complete piano and cello music of Beethoven, and pianist Ya-Fei Chuang, with whom he appears in recital and with orchestra. Earlier this year he toured Europe and the United States with violinist Hilary Hahn.

A passionate advocate of new music, Robert Levin has commissioned and premiered a large number of works. He has recorded the complete piano music of Dutilleux for ECM and joined pianist Ursula Oppens in a CD of Bernard Rands’ piano music for Bridge. A renowned chamber musician, his completions of Mozart fragments are published by Bärenreiter, Breitkopf & Härtel, Carus, Peters, and Wiener Urtext Edition, and recorded and performed throughout the world.

Hilary Hahn
Three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn has gained international recognition for her probing interpretations, compelling stage presence, and commitment to new music and the commission process. Her extensive tours and dynamic recordings have made her one of the most sought-after artists of this era. Hahn appears regularly with the world’s elite orchestras and on prestigious recital series in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. In the 15 years since she began recording, Hahn has released 13 solo albums on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sony labels, in addition to three live performance DVDs, an Oscar-nominated movie soundtrack, and various compilations. In 2012, she released an album of Tchaikovsky and Higdon concertos. The Higdon piece, which Hahn commissioned, won the Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, her album Charles Ives: Four Sonatas was released. Her ongoing commissioning project, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, involves over two dozen of today’s top composers writing new short works for violin and piano. The pieces will be premiered over the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons and recorded for release in the 2013-2014 season. Hahn’s most recent album, Silfra, is a collaboration with prepared pianist Hauschka. The record was produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson and was entirely improvised by the two performers. Hahn’s work covers a diverse repertoire, but she is committed to showcasing contemporary music and has a particular fondness for Bach.

“Hilary Hahn, one of the greatest violinists in the world today, can do anything she wants. … Listening to [Hahn] play is to be in the presence of instrumental talent that comes along once in a generation, if that.” (The Washington Post)

Alain Meunier
studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris (four first prizes), in his city of birth. He has always led an especially independent life, emphasizing the repertoire of chamber music and meeting his fellow musicians.

Very involved in the creation of works of his time, he is the dedicatee or the creator of numerous compositions with the cello as protagonist. His taste in music has kept him out of the concept of a career, without neglecting the necessary artistic standards.

He taught at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and served on the Faculty at the Lyon Conservatory. He also has been professor at the Paris Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse.

He also teaches in various European institutions and regularly lectures at different latitudes.

He currently leads the Festival d’Entrecasteaux (Var), the Serate di Musica da Camera di Napoli and co-directs the Quartet Festival in Bordeaux. He is also chairman of the board of Higher Division of Music and Dance of Bordeaux-Aquitaine.

His numerous recordings include the complete Suites for Cello by J.S. Bach, which is considered a reference within the repertoire.

Since 2016 he is the Artistic Director of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.

Booklet for Mozart: Trio K. 496 & Trio K. 442 (Completed by Robert Levin)