In 1991, Clive Brown sounded a note of caution concerning the then-new pursuit of ‘historically informed’ performance of nineteenth-century music, concluding, memorably, that ‘there is infinitely more to historically sensitive performance than merely employing the right equipment, and the public is in danger of being offered attractively packaged but unripe fruit’.Footnote ¹ This is neither the time nor the place to scrutinize what ‘historically informed performance’ (HIP) does or should mean; but this disc, by the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio (Eric Zivian, Tanya Tomkins and Monica Huggett, with Adam LaMotte) scarcely pushes such thoughts to the back of the mind: the album's back cover refers to ‘historically informed performances … on period instruments’ in such a way as to tap into a now rich vein of academic criticism.

Lest the reader be wary that I am going to use this as an excuse to construct a diatribe against the limitations of ‘period instrument’ performances of nineteenth-century music, I must state that I have no such agenda here. I am aware that ‘…on period instruments’ can mean almost anything, and that being ‘historically informed’ is an equally wide epithet (although, as I opine on a regular basis, it is, logically, quite difficult to be historically ‘uninformed’). At the same time, I have heard modern instrument performances (with no reference to being ‘historical’) that evidence exciting (being as they are apparently ‘unconscious’) references to period stylistic awareness (such as the Doric Quartet's recent recording of Schubert).Footnote ² In my mind, all of this is fine. Although I have spent a number of years investigating nineteenth-century performance on period instruments in a consciously ‘scholarly’ way, and although I think ‘period instruments’ are useful, I have no problem with the use of modern instruments per se. My remarks, then, are those of the intentionally open-minded listener and should be read in this context; but it would be disingenuous of me to suggest that the performer lineup and the HIP language in the liner notes for this disc did not set up some quite powerful expectations. It is difficult to listen to such a disc without the HIP branding influencing one's perceptions, and this is a shame, because on its own terms this is a genuinely enjoyable set of performances.

Avie Records has produced a warm-toned sound, but it is hard to tell the extent to which the dark low registers of the fine Franz Rausch piano of 1841 are a product of the recording or of the instrument itself. At times in an otherwise colourful performance of Schumann's Kinderszenen, op. 15, Eric Zivian's tendency to play left and right hands together and avoid the nineteenth-century practice of arpeggiation can result in a rather muddy tone that is crying out for a more continuous application of nineteenth-century practices as so eloquently discussed by Neal Peres da Costa.Footnote ³ This for me mars ‘Kuriose Geschichte’, although there is some very beautiful playing in ‘Kind im Einschlummern’, for example, which is exquisitely voiced and suitably yearning. Nonetheless, Zivian's pianism is fine in as much a ‘modern’ way as a ‘period’ one, and only the exciting evidence of ‘left hand before right’ playing in ‘Von fremden Ländern und Menschen’ really testifies to the research we have into period practices.

The sense of ensemble and matched sonority is admirable, as is the rhetorical shaping – one would expect little less from such performers – but I have to confess that the feelings of disappointment in Zivian's piano playing (from a historical perspective) are echoed in the string playing. It is a shame that the string parts either avoid portamenti between wide-spaced notes or practice such a light and fast application of the device that it is barely audible at all. In this respect, Huggett's discreet attempts at portamentos are nonetheless much more evident than Tomkins’, which is odd, given that Friedrich Grüzmacher's editions of cello music imply a much more lavish use of portamento than those of comparable violinists (such as Ferdinand David). The absence of portamentos (particularly evident in slow movements of both op. 47 and op. 80) is a conspicuous avoidance of nineteenth-century evidence, and I am astonished by the continued reticence towards this perfectly legitimate vocal ornament. Curiously, Huggett tends to apply portamento only between smaller intervals, avoiding the larger portamentos commonly implied by editors contemporaneous with Schumann. One suspects, once again, that the avoidance of more aurally obvious sliding shows how ‘modern taste’ has impinged upon performance decisions. This reflects Clive Brown's evident frustration that, although historical performance ‘…will generally have the allure of something slightly exotic’, it is still ‘the unspoken principle that this “otherness” must be sufficiently striking to rouse the interest of the listeners without alienating them’.Footnote ⁴

Additionally, the extensive use of vibrato is unconvincing historically, providing further evidence that the disc's aesthetic motivations may involve the ‘sugarcoating’ of historical practices. Given the notable infrequency of vibrato in sources such as Louis Spohr's 1833 Violinschule, the fact that Huggett places vibrato on her first note of the op. 80 Trio suggests a willing disregard of the historical record. In fairness, however, Tomkins is much more ‘guilty’ here (if this is appropriate language). The opening of the third movement of the Piano Quartet, in fact, uses vibrato so much that it is stylistically indistinguishable from a modern performance. On a more basic level, the sense of ensemble and technical prowess is superb, but one need only listen to virtually any pre-1930 performance to realize that matched articulation and style is only something practiced relatively recently.

Ultimately, it is my view that the effectiveness of a performance lies not so much in whether it is ‘informed by history’ but rather in its persuasiveness. In this respect the disc is very good, and one should perhaps leave matters at that. This said, I find it hard to switch off my feelings of disappointment: it is still a shame that the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio do not do as much with some of this music as they might. At best, this disc delivers clean and colourful playing (such as the beautifully voiced opening to the Piano Quartet) but the lingering challenge, surely, is to encourage more active experimentation with performing practices that loosen the edges of Schumann's often opaque musical language. The extent to which this disc manages to do this is ultimately a matter for the listener to evaluate.