Swiss Tchaikovsky echoes

Among the numerous chamber music works with piano accompaniment by Paul Juon (1872-1940), the Sextet from 1902 and the Quintet from 1909, two original compositions of central importance. The sometimes orchestral sonority of the work, which is still very much rooted in Slavic late Romanticism Sextetswhich is directed towards Chamber Symphony (Octet) op. 27, stands in the harmonically bolder Quintet is contrasted with a strongly broken-up texture of remarkable transparency, interspersed with pure string passages. The tonal peculiarities of this stylistically more uniform, strikingly austere work include stereotypical whole tone passages, pentatonic turns and seventh chords, which only lose their sharpness through arpeggiation.

In the less mature, but melodically richer Sextet Juon's greatest role models, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, fight vigorously against each other. The Swiss composer, who was born in Moscow and grew up in Berlin, was recognized early on as having a certain affinity with Brahms. This is most noticeable here in the thematic structure of the first movement. The affinity with the 1st movement of the Piano quintets op. 34 by his German colleague cannot be ignored. On the other hand, Juon is even more passionate about Tchaikovsky when he combines the typical Russian folk song theme of the slow 2nd movement with that of the 2nd movement from the Piano trio A minor op. 50 by the Russian composer. Like the latter, Juon also extends the variations to the following three movements (Minuet, Intermezzo, Finale).

The emotional warmth of the Sextets and the cooler sound atmosphere of the Quintets are performed by pianist Oliver Triendl, cellist Thomas Grossenbacher and the Carmina Quartet with a dedication that can hardly be described as anything other than passionate.

Paul Juon: Piano Quintet, Piano Sextet (2nd Quintet in F major op. 44 for violin, two violas, violoncello and piano; Sextet in C minor op. 22 for two violins, viola, two violoncellos and piano). Oliver Triendl, Thomas Grossenbacher, Carmina Quartett. cpo 777 507-2