Festival du Comminges, 13/08/2018
Fauré : Piano Trio
Chausson : Piano Trio
Saint-Saëns : Piano Trio No. 2
Trio Talweg
Sébastien Surel, violin
Éric-Maria Couturier, cello
Romain Descharmes, piano
Fauré's Piano Trio is the last gasp of French Romanticism. Its date alone - 1922 - makes it an anachronism in terms of style, but as swan songs go, there have been few more impressive or more touching. It was also one of Fauré's very last compositions, a final, valedictory summation of his craft, glowing with beautiful melody, and endlessly inventive. The Trio Talweg instantly made their mark, from the very first bars, Couturier's rich, singing tone setting the standard, and completely matched by his partners. The second movement in particular, with its long, flowing lines, was a gloriously wistful song.
The three composers tonight were each born ten years apart. Chausson was the youngest, but also the first to die, killed at the age of 44 in a bicycling accident. Considering that he started late as a composer, beginning composition classes at an age when most others have left the conservatoire, his output in the space of about twenty years is quite extensive, and covers a wide variety of forms, but predominantly songs. His chamber music, with one glorious exception, is not well known, and this Trio is an early work, his Op. 3. The first movement is quite dense, and its themes recur in the third and fourth movements, the cyclical structure favoured by one of Chausson's teachers, César Franck. His individual voice is not all that clear at this point, although you do hear the influences - Mendelssohn in the scherzo, and Wagner (whose music Chausson idolised), very clearly, in the third movement. It's in the last movement that both the musical material, and the treatment of the instruments suddenly coalesce into something that audibly prefigures the magnificent Concert for violin, piano and string quartet. Again, the Trio Talweg served this music splendidly, producing a sound that was both rich and clear, with a warm, singing tone from the string instruments.
The Saint-Saëns 2nd Trio is neither an early nor a late work. Saint-Saëns was 55, and in robust good health, with another twenty years of composition ahead of him, and a good forty behind. He was a prolific composer, with the result that he's generally known for only a handful of pieces, and the rest is neglected. This Trio is an unusual work, with five movements of which the two outer ones are brooding and fervid, while the three inner ones, although each has its darker moments, are on the whole more light-hearted. The piano writing, as might be imagined from perhaps the foremost French pianist of his time, is redoubtable - if you know the piano concertos, you can easily imagine the requirements placed on the pianist here - and tends to overshadow the two other instruments a little, while the waltz of the fourth movement strays somewhat towards 'palm-court orchestra' music, with only its virtuosity setting it apart. It's a substantial work, however, around 40 minutes in length, quite innovative in many places, and given a persuasive, absorbing reading.
This was an outstanding and fascinating foray into French Romantic music, superbly played by a deeply engaged trio of artists at the top of their game, who delivered first-class music-making on every point.
[Next : 17th August]
Chausson : Piano Trio
Saint-Saëns : Piano Trio No. 2
Trio Talweg
Sébastien Surel, violin
Éric-Maria Couturier, cello
Romain Descharmes, piano
Fauré's Piano Trio is the last gasp of French Romanticism. Its date alone - 1922 - makes it an anachronism in terms of style, but as swan songs go, there have been few more impressive or more touching. It was also one of Fauré's very last compositions, a final, valedictory summation of his craft, glowing with beautiful melody, and endlessly inventive. The Trio Talweg instantly made their mark, from the very first bars, Couturier's rich, singing tone setting the standard, and completely matched by his partners. The second movement in particular, with its long, flowing lines, was a gloriously wistful song.
The three composers tonight were each born ten years apart. Chausson was the youngest, but also the first to die, killed at the age of 44 in a bicycling accident. Considering that he started late as a composer, beginning composition classes at an age when most others have left the conservatoire, his output in the space of about twenty years is quite extensive, and covers a wide variety of forms, but predominantly songs. His chamber music, with one glorious exception, is not well known, and this Trio is an early work, his Op. 3. The first movement is quite dense, and its themes recur in the third and fourth movements, the cyclical structure favoured by one of Chausson's teachers, César Franck. His individual voice is not all that clear at this point, although you do hear the influences - Mendelssohn in the scherzo, and Wagner (whose music Chausson idolised), very clearly, in the third movement. It's in the last movement that both the musical material, and the treatment of the instruments suddenly coalesce into something that audibly prefigures the magnificent Concert for violin, piano and string quartet. Again, the Trio Talweg served this music splendidly, producing a sound that was both rich and clear, with a warm, singing tone from the string instruments.
The Saint-Saëns 2nd Trio is neither an early nor a late work. Saint-Saëns was 55, and in robust good health, with another twenty years of composition ahead of him, and a good forty behind. He was a prolific composer, with the result that he's generally known for only a handful of pieces, and the rest is neglected. This Trio is an unusual work, with five movements of which the two outer ones are brooding and fervid, while the three inner ones, although each has its darker moments, are on the whole more light-hearted. The piano writing, as might be imagined from perhaps the foremost French pianist of his time, is redoubtable - if you know the piano concertos, you can easily imagine the requirements placed on the pianist here - and tends to overshadow the two other instruments a little, while the waltz of the fourth movement strays somewhat towards 'palm-court orchestra' music, with only its virtuosity setting it apart. It's a substantial work, however, around 40 minutes in length, quite innovative in many places, and given a persuasive, absorbing reading.
This was an outstanding and fascinating foray into French Romantic music, superbly played by a deeply engaged trio of artists at the top of their game, who delivered first-class music-making on every point.
[Next : 17th August]