Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian Violin
Raphael Pidoux cello
Vincent Coq piano
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Piano Trio in D minor op. 120
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Piano Trio in A minor
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) Piano Trio no.2 E minor op. 92
The Trio Wanderer presents an all-French program marked by the teacher-student relationship: Saint-Saëns taught Fauré the latter was in turn Ravel's composition teacher.
Despite its proximity in time to the outbreak of World War 1, written between April and August 1914, Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio seems almost serene, with borrowings from Basque folklore. Ravel is regarded as an innovator of traditional form and technique, and his work combines a sense of sound and calculation. His only piano trio, equally demanding for all three musicians, is now a staple of any trio formation's repertoire.
Probably because of the great success of Ravel's trio, Gabriel Fauré was inspired by his publisher to compose a piano trio, which was written in 1922/23, a year before the composer's death. The work is characterised by simple clarity and transparency of conception with a turn towards melodicism influenced by the church keys.
Camille Saint-Saëns is considered the most important French composer of the so-called "classicist" period in his return to classical formal repertoire. Composer of the so-called "classicisme". He did "pioneering work" in the field of chamber music, which received little attention in France in the last third of the 19th century. His Piano Trio, Op. 92, was written in 1892 and is characterized by clarity of design, yet serious and subtle - a large-scale five-movement work in symmetrical structure with two weighty outer movements and three shorter middle movements.
The Trio Wanderer takes its name in reference to and homage to Schubert and German Romanticism with the leitmotif of the «wandering traveler». Founded in 1987, the trio received their musical training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and with such renowned teachers as Janos Starker, György Sebök, Dorothy Delay and Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio), as well as members of the Amadeus Quartet.
The start of his international career was marked by winning the ARD Competition in Munich in 1988 and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the USA in 1990.
Since then, the ensemble has performed on renowned stages around the globe. In the meantime, more than 25 CD recordings have been made for various labels. In May 2018, the latest CD with Haydn's Trios XV: 14, 18, 21, 26 and 31 was released.
Project management: Frankfurter Bürgerstiftung
Funders: Cronstett- und Hynspergische evangelische Stiftung
Text source and further information about this event: https://frankfurter-buergerstiftung.de/node/2646
