FRIEDRICH CERHA (b.1926): 5 Movements for Piano Trio, 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano, 6 Inventions for Violin and Cello (all First Recordings), Rhapsody for Violin and Piano, Nachtstück from Piano Trio.

Description: These trios and duos, all from the last decade (the composer's ninth), find Cerha still writing with youthful vigor in pieces that post-date his most avant-garde phase but look back to his Second Viennese roots - the influence of Berg is especially noticeable - and even further, to Bach. Cerha never circled back to tonality, but these pieces share strong links to tradition, and an almost Romantic degree of expressiveness; any number of the pieces could be described as 'rhapsodic', aside from the (very Bergian) one that bears that title - all the eloquent cello and piano pieces from 2013, for instance. There is never the slightest sense of academic modernism, and in a piece like the haunted 'Nachtstück' the impression is purely of atmosphere and a direct appeal to the emotions. Boulanger Trio.