Three other great recordings
Trio Wanderer
If anything, the Trio Wanderer offers an even wider range of tonal colouring than the Smetana Trio, though the performers are not quite as reckless as their Czech colleagues in the approach to the Scherzo. What really puts this performance on the highest level is the eloquence in the Passacaglia, a moving tribute to the memory of Shostakovich’s closest friend. Controversially, the players don’t follow Shostakovich’s request for the strings to put their mutes on near the end of the finale, but this doesn’t diminish the power or intensity of the playing. (Harmonia Mundi HMG501825)
Florestan Trio
The Florestan
Trio provides a more objective interpretation, with a cooler approach in the Passacaglia that emphasises poise and nobility rather than the heart-rending grief that is characteristic of some other performances. Initially the faster tempo adopted in the finale seems like a miscalculation, robbing the music of its sense of impending doom. But as the movement progresses, this feeling dissipates as the playing gathers strength and builds to a powerful climax. The closing bars
are incredibly moving, especially the way the ghostly sounds disappear into the ether. (Hyperion CDA67834)
Martha Argerich (piano), Maxim Vengerov (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello)
Martha Argerich is exactly the kind of charismatic performer to bring the greatest dramatic intensity to this score. Whereas her live 1990s DG recording with Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky is bedevilled by some self-conscious distortions of rhythm, this later recording with younger virtuosos, from a 2003 concert in Lugano, is electrifying. Argerich, Vengerov and Capuçon don’t quite go hell for leather in the Scherzo to the same extent as the Smetanas, but they do imbue the snarls and percussive passages with visceral power. (Warner 476 8712)
And one to avoid…
Bringing together an all-star cast – pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Yo-yo Ma – does not guarantee the most compelling performance. The problem here is that the players don’t always appear completely engaged, so that there are passages which tend to sag. And Isaac Stern, nearing the end of his career, doesn’t offer as powerful and defined a performance as Yo-yo Ma.