Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944)
Quatre Lieder, op. 2
Trio pour piano, op. 65

Rubin Goldmark (1872-1936)
Trio pour piano, op. 1

Carolina Ullrich, soprano
Trio Hyperion

Neveu de Karl Goldmark qui fut en son temps (la fin du 19° siècle) une gloire de la musique à Vienne, Rubin Goldmark fit sa carrière aux USA, où, comme son oncle, sa notoriété dans les années 20 fut considérable, avant, lui aussi, de tomber dans l‘oubli. Il faut évidemment que ce soit CPO qui exhume ce beau trio opus 1 (1893) , encore très marqué par une écriture héritée de Brahms et de Schumann, mais d’une magnifique tenue et qui suscita l’admiration de Dvorak. Le complément révèle un autre trio oublié, celui de Felix Woyrsch, dont l’éditeur grave parallèlement les symphonies ; composé en 1919, il se rattache cependant toujours au même style romantique allemand placé sous le signe de Brahms et, cette fois, aussi de Reger. Certes aucune de ces deux partitions ne bouleverse notre connaissance de l’histoire de la musique mais les deux sont d’intéressants enrichissements bien venus. Le plus original du CD réside dans le complément des quatre lieder opus 2 (1884) du même Woyrsch. Sur de magnifiques poèmes de Heine et Lenau, le compositeur tisse un accompagnement raffiné et délicat où le piano mêle sa voix tantôt à celle du violon, tantôt à celle du violoncelle. L’interprétation irréprochable du trio Hyperion et de Carolina Ullrich rend pleinement justice à ces pages oubliées mais qui méritent de reprendre vie. (Richard Wander)

Trios by Rubin Goldmark and Felix Woyrsch Rubin Goldmark, the nephew of the famous Karl Goldmark, numbers among the countless composers from the last third of the nineteenth century whose names are no longer remembered today. While his uncle continues to enjoy a place (albeit a modest one) in the concert world, not least owing to the enduring reception of his music in the European press, Rubin Goldmark has not been granted this fate. Following the completion of his studies the twenty-one-year-old Goldmark assumed a teaching post at Jeannette Meyers Thurber’s National Conservatory of Music in Manhattan, where Dvoøák, his earlier teacher, was the director. His melodically so very rewarding Piano Trio is to be situated in the direct Brahms succession and even that of Schumann. Viennese, Bohemian, and lively popular tones are clearly evident in this composition, which nonetheless freely develops without strictly adhering to potential models. There is not much musing here but a lot that is poetic; the composition radiates rich charm and metropolitan elegance. In the Piano Trio composed by Felix Woyrsch in 1919 we repeatedly encounter elements offering glimpses of the twentieth century. Reger or other contemporaries suddenly flash across the musical sky, and occasionally there are anticipations of the music of the 1920s. However, this composition essentially remains a motivically concentrated, contrapuntally rich piece of work born of the spirit of the turn of the century. Woyrsch’s Four Songs op. 2 number among the songs for voice and piano with an obbligato solo instrument that have been sufficiently known in music history at the latest since Franz Schubert. Woyrsch’s finely crafted treatment unites what in part are quite different texts by Heinrich Heine and Nikolaus Lenau to form what seems to be an almost intentionally plotted collection, even if each of the songs of course also has its own entirely independent value.