Fidelio Trio FAURÉ, CHAUSSON & SATIE Piano Trios

Following on from their acclaimed Resonus debut the Fidelio Trio continues its exploration of the French piano trio with this impressive new recording of works by Gabriel Fauré, Ernest Chausson, and Erik Satie.

Chausson’s opulent and lyrical Op. 3 piano trio from 1881, is joined by Fauré’s only work in this chamber music genre – the heartfelt Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120 – composed during the latter part of his life. The album is completed with arrangements by John White of works by Erik Satie – selections from his only liturgical work, the Messe des Pauvres, and the incidental music to his own play, Le Piège de Méduse.

DANCE MAZE Chamber Music by TOM ARMSTRONG

Resonus is proud to present a programme of world premiere recordings of chamber music by the contemporary British composer Tom Armstrong.

Performed by an impressive line-up of musicians for whom the pieces were originally composed, this unique programme explores the processes of revision and re-working, from minor alterations to radical re-examinations of the same musical materials.

Fidelio Trio RAVEL & SAINT-SAËNS Piano Trios

The unusual item here is Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Trio of 1892, of which the Fidelio Trio give a performance of terrific impetus and refinement. It would be all too easy to fall into the trap of inflating the opening movement – by far the longest of the five – since the busy, red-blooded piano accompaniment to the strings’ main theme can threaten to take on a life of its own. In terms of texture, though not by any means of thematic substance, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio, completed in 1882, comes to mind as a score that in realms of instrumental balance requires similarly careful thought. The Fidelio have done their thinking for the Saint-Saëns and the result is superb: you certainly know that the piano is working hard with all those arpeggios and rapid, keyboard-crossing chords, but the performance is all of a piece, with the violin and cello speaking with just as much authority and élan.

The whimsy of the second movement’s lopsided 5/8 rhythm is nicely etched in; the cello’s languid theme in the central Andante is beautifully done and finds a perfect match when the violin joins in. The lighthearted Grazioso fourth movement forms an emotional breather before Saint-Saëns returns in the finale to the mood of the opening movement with all his seriousness of craftsmanship and propulsive energy.

The Fidelio’s interpretation possesses admirable clarity and definition, polish and brio, qualities they bring also to a very different world of sound in the Ravel Trio. In both works their interpretative touch is secure, their rapport instinctive. Together with their eloquence and passion, this all adds up to something special. (Geoffrey Norris / Gramophone)

Fidelio Trio MICHAEL NYMAN Piano Trios 1992 - 2010

MN Records is aiming to record the complete chamber works of Michael Nyman. Here are the first fruits, two volumes that help provide a portrait of this fascinating figure. The first is subtitled, “Piano Trios 1992–2010.” Originally written for the Michael Nyman Band and the film of the title’s name in 2000, this 2010 version of Poczatek is given here in a version prepared specially for the Fidelio Trio. The film was commissioned by the Polish Cultural Institute to accompany the composer’s own choice of excerpts from Polish film. The performance here positively sparkles. Rhythmically skipping unison lines are full of vitality. An objectivized element to the performance only serves to make the listening experience of this sequence of vignettes all the more refreshing. The piece is beautifully varied, and finds Nyman painting in principally primary colors.
The Photography of Chance (2004) was commissioned to celebrate the landscape of Utah and is dedicated to the British disc jockey John Peel. As in the case of Poczatek , this disc presents the premiere recording. There are some tremendously poignant long lines, contrasted with more active, gestural sections that seem to link to Messiaen. It is a tremendously interesting, involving score whose inner vitality is supremely rendered here by the Fidelio Trio. Nyman plays on the contrast of the two planes of expression effectively. It sustains its 20 minute duration with ease. The 2002 piece Yellow Beach is described by the composer as a “transfigured version of Come Unto Thee Yellow Sands performed by the Michael Nyman Band in Prospero’s Books. ” Engaging and yet at times massively expressive, Yellow Beach emerges as a masterpiece of concise writing (it lasts 6:23). Finally for this disc, the 20-minute Time Will Pronounce , its title taken from lines of a poem by Joseph Brodsky that concerns the deaths in Bosnia in 1992. Nyman divides the instrumental group into piano as one unit and strings acting together as another unit. It sounds like there is some sort of rhythmic powerhouse generator enlivening the performance, such is the intensity of the players. There is much beauty here also (try the section around nine minutes in), and instrumental effects are used tastefully. This piece also holds the most purely minimalist music, and it seems perfectly placed. The sense of timelessness of the work’s closing section is quite mesmerically done here. (FANFARE: Colin Clark)