Biography

Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian -  violin
Raphaël Pidoux  -  cello
Vincent Coq  -  piano

Acclaimed for its extraordinarily sensitive style, almost telepathic understanding of each other, and technical mastery, the Trio Wanderer is a French ensemble that has been performing in major halls on six continents for over three decades. The members are all graduates of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. In addition, they studied at Indiana University, Juilliard, and with members of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Amadeus Quartet. The name “Wanderer” pays homage to Schubert, and more widely to German Romanticism, which is often suffused with the theme of the wandering traveler. Indeed, these three musicians are avid open-minded, wandering travelers, who explore a musical world spanning the centuries from Mozart and Haydn to the present day. In 1988 the Trio won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and in 1990 the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in the U.S. In 2015, the three musicians were recipients of the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres). The Trio has recorded more than twenty CDs, mostly on the Harmonia Mundi label, but also on Sony Classical, Accord, Cyprès, Capriccio, and Mirare. LMMC Debut.

http://www.triowanderer.fr/?lang=en

Notes

The first of Mendelssohn’s two Piano Trios is probably his most frequently performed chamber work today. Despite the flowering of the age of romanticism all about Mendelssohn, most hallmarks of the classical style are found here in abundance: elegance, balance, fluency, smoothly lyrical melodies and formal mastery. The cello introduces both principal subjects of the opening sonata-form movement. The second movement develops in its outer sections a single melody of ingratiating charm. Elfin grace, delicate textures, sparkling themes and whirlwinds of feather-light notes are the elements of the Scherzo. The Finale is essentially driven by the pervasive rhythmic pattern Schubert used often, long-short-short.

Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger, to give “Lili” her full name, was prodigiously gifted, learning not only composition but also piano, organ, voice, violin, cello, and harp. She was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome composition prize, and one of the most important women composers of the early twentieth century despite her early death at the age of just 24. D’un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening) and D’un matin de printemps (Of a Spring Morning) were written just before her death. Both parts of this diptych are based on similar melodic outlines and are in triple meter, though they differ in tempo. Most listeners hear in the short but intense D’un soir triste a reflection on the fatalities and tragedy of World War I, which raged while Lili was writing it. The influence of Debussy is apparent in the bright, cheerful D’un matin de printemps.

Ravel’s Piano Trio is large in scope, at times virtuosic in its demands, and fully exploits instrumental colors and effects. Although written for just three players, it takes on symphonic proportions at times (Yan Pascal Tortelier in fact created an orchestral version in 1992). The Trio opens with one of Ravel’s most beguiling melodies, a gently swaying subject derived from a folk dance of Ravel’s native Basque region. The second movement is a scherzo in all but name, filled with the breathless, feathery pointillism for which Mendelssohn was renowned. Ravel’s title is “Pantoum” (pantun), a word from the Malay language referring to a literary form. The dignified slow movement is based on the old Baroque passacaglia form, in which a melodic line, usually confined to the bass, is subjected to continuous variations and countersubjects. The finale slips in without pause, the strings playing fantastical ethereal effects over a quiet, chordal theme in the piano. Written at times in 5/4 meter, at others in 7/4 (both common to Basque folk music), this movement features some of the most sensational and overtly virtuosic music Ravel ever wrote for any ensemble.

Robert Markow