String trios

Following an initial release dedicated to string trios by Hungarian composers, the Trio Boccherini now presents a program of works composed in France and Belgium during the first half of the 20th century. In a culture that cultivated the art of conversation so masterfully, it is hardly surprising that early French string trios were often referred to as 'conversations à trois'. The program begins with a trio by Jean Cras, a Breton composer who, while serving as an officer in the French Navy, created an extensive body of high-quality work. His string trio is a significant piece that brings together a wide range of styles, including North African influences as well as echoes of Johann Sebastian Bach and Béla Bartók. The next work, Eugène Ysaÿe’s "Le Chimay", is an intense piece that makes great technical and emotional demands on the performers. The work was named after the location of its premiere, which took place long after the composer's death. Jean Françaix’s trio rejects the prevailing modernism of the time and feels light, airy, playful, and even cheeky. The work is simultaneously humorous and profound, distinguished by its unique poetic quality. The program concludes with an arrangement for string trio of Claude Debussy’s famous "Clair de lune", a work of timeless beauty.