Music Chamber

PART OF THE FEBRUARY 'ART OF THE TRIO' SERIES ORGANISED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE PIANO TRIO SOCIETY

 

Trio Français – Emmanuelle Turbelin (piano), Samuel Godefroi (violin), Axelle Porret (cello) perform:

 

Piano Trio in B major, Opus 8 – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Allegro con brio ~ Scherzo,  allegro molto ~ Adagio ~ Allegro

 

This piano trio was written when Brahms was only twenty and was his first published chamber work. Even at this early age, he had been hailed by Schumann as a genius, and this rested heavily on his young shoulders! In spite of his misgivings about the work it was duly published, only to be revised considerably by the mature Brahms in 1891 and it is this revised version which is played today. The first movement opens with a beautiful lyrical theme, which had been praised by Clara Schumann in the early publication of the work. The second subject is followed by a complex development with the ‘tranquillo’ in the coda reflecting the mood with which the movement began. The lively scherzo has a hunt-like theme and was the movement which received least revision. In the slow movement which follows, Brahms added a new second subject in the form of a beautiful cello melody in G sharp minor which contrasts admirably with the chorale-like opening theme. The final movement, also considerably revised, is in B minor and, like the first movement, contains a new second subject which does nothing to dispel the restless energy of the movement. © Christine Talbot-Cooper

 

Summer and Autumn from Four Seasons of Buenos Aires – Àstor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

 

Astor Piazzolla was born in Argentina of Italian parents and moved to New York at the age of four.  At the age of eight his father gave him a bandoneon, which he had bought, in a pawnshop, thus beginning a life-long love of the instrument. He took lessons on the bandoneon with Bela Wilda, from whom he also developed a love of Bach, and later joined a number of tango orchestras, moving to Buenos Aires at the age of seventeen to enable him to play with one of the great tango orchestras of the time. He was restless to develop musically and was advised by Rubinstein to begin studies with Ginastera in 1941, later moving to Paris in 1954 to study with Nadia Boulanger who persuaded him to play some tangos on his bandoneon and convinced him that this was where his talent as a composer lay! Throughout the rest of his life he absorbed a wide variety of music, and by combining it with the tango of his native land, developed a very individual style of composition which was given the title nuevo tango and which was not always well received in more orthodox tango circles. All the time he continued with his own performing in various instrumental groups throughout  USA, Europe and Japan whilst his reputation as a composer of symphonic and chamber works grew, attracting performances by renowned classical musicians such as Mstislav Rostropovich,  for whom he wrote “Le Grand Tango” for cello and piano. This work we are hearing today was inspired by Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and was written between 1967 and 1970. The movements, which depict a variety of contrasting moods, are really separate works, which can be played in any order and indeed often a single movement was performed by Piazzolla himself in concert. There are also a number of different instrumental arrangements of the work, the first being for a quintet composed of bandoneon, electric guitar, piano, violin and double bass.  

 

 

Emmanuelle Turbelin graduated with distinction in piano performance and accompaniment at the National Conservatory of Music in Lyon and further at the National Conservatory in  Montpellier, winning the Leopold Bellan Competition (Paris) with the Trio Carpe Dièze in 2002. She obtained the MMus Diploma with distinction at the Royal College of Music in 2009, where she accompanied many masterclasses by distinguished musicians, later acting as accompanist at many important French festivals.  She is now staff accompanist at the Conservatoire in Arras.

 

Samuel Godefroi was born in Paris in 1987. He started playing the violin at the age of 6. After Graduating in 2003 in Meudon Concervatoire, as a student of Guy Comentale he continued his studies at the Versailles Regional Conservatoire with Alexandre Brussilovsky, where he graduated as well, in 2006. Samuel is now studying at the Royal College of Music in London with Yossi Zivoni. Between 2003 and 2010 Samuel made several appearances in different events including Belesbat Masters, Musique en Pays d’Olt, or with the ORCJ Orchestra.

 

Axelle Porret began playing the cello at the Conservatory of Reims (France) at the age of 7 later studying with Marc-Didier Thirault in Reims, Yvan Chiffoleau  in Perpignan and Hélène Dautry in Paris and received first prize in both cello and chamber music at Reims and Perpignan Conservatoires. She participated in the summer academies of Prades and Courchevel, also playing in numerous masterclasses and performing with orchestras such as the ‘Orchestre des Musiciens de la Pree’ at Paris and in many chamber music festivals throughout France. Axelle is currently studying at Royal College of Music with Melissa Phelps and plays a 1985 Pierre Causse cello, generously lent by the Fond Instrumental Français.