MUSIC FOR VIOLIN, CELLO AND PIANO

After his unsuccessful bid for the Rome Prize, Chausson began to write his Trio in the summer of 1881 and completed it in early September. Premiered on April 8, 1882, at the Société Nationale de Musique of Paris, the work was coolly received. It was published by Rouart et Lerolle only in 1919. A vast work, set in four movements and definitively elaborated based on the counsel of Franck, this Trio is the first of four great chamber works left to us by Chausson. It is noteworthy that the influence of the older composer is present from the beginning.

The first movement, in g minor, is closely related to a sonata form, employing the principle of exposition, development and recapitulation of essential motives. The brief, gently rocking introduction to the movement is almost elegiac in character. The violin sounds the cyclic theme, above active piano figures. The second part of the movement, characterized by vigorous piano rhythms, contains the string exposition of the two principal motives, beautifully developed in imitation. At the same tempo as the other motives, the cyclic theme reappears in the final phase, in a fantastic and sonorous rapture. The second movement, constructed as a Scherzo, is announced by a short introduction and followed by two motives that chase each other in a frenzied race, set against an ever-changing piano part. A brief coda prepares the third movement. In this slow movement, the piano sounds the cyclic theme in d minor. Later, a new phrase is stated by the cello and retaken by the violin with an intense poetry and harmonic ambiguity evoking Franck and Fauré. Like the first movement, the finale recalls the construction of sonata form. Following an exposition of the themes with an extraordinary rhythmic intensity, the cyclic perfection of the work is achieved. This marvelous piece continues to be one of the most spontaneous works by its composer.

The two remaining works on this album are by Eugène Ysaÿe, who was born in Liège, in 1858, and died in Brussels in 1931. He studied violin with his father from age four, and entered the Conservatory of Liège, where he obtained second prize two years later. He made his pubic debut at age eleven. At the Brussels Conservatory he studied with Wieniawski, and later, in Paris, with Vieuxtemps. Ysaÿe undertook many European tours before becoming professor at the Brussels Conservatory, where he created the “Ysaÿe Concerts” in order to promote contemporary repertoire. He formed his own quartet in 1894 and realized 8 tours throughout the United States. After the First World War, he turned his attention to conducting (from 1918-1922 he was the principal conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra). He died just before the premiere of his opera written in the Walloon language.