Trio Karénine LA NUIT TRANSFIGURÉE

 

LA NUIT TRANSFIGURÉE

 

Paloma Kouider / Fanny Robilliard BRAHMS - SCHUMANN

                                                          BRAHMS - SCHUMANN

Trio Karénine SCHUMANN Piano Trios 1 & 2

The Trio Karénine were joint winners (with the Van Baerle Trio) of the 2013 ARD Competition in Munich. They formed as recently as 2009 and the choice of Schumann for their first disc is a bold one. There’s an effervescence and litheness that underpins their approach (not for nothing are they named after Tolstoy’s heroine Anna Karenina, ‘for the life force she represents’).

The Second Trio suits them particularly well. They capture the upward-surging opening of the first movement and the thrilling élan of its close. Yet they don’t underplay the contrasting elements either, for instance, the confiding theme introduced by the piano at 0'50" (tr 5). In the second movement they know better than to overindulge Schumann’s rapturous main theme, though Andsnes’s magically withdrawn accompaniment for the Tetzlaff siblings is even more rapt. The lolloping intermezzo-like third movement, with its canonic conversation between strings and piano, is also very effective, while the finale is a particularly elated affair, the Karénine palpably delighting in Schumann’s flow of melodic invention; their lively sense of interplay and the springiest of accentuation gives even the sparkily multi-hued account by Faust/Queyras/Melnikov a run for its money.

The turbulent First Trio is also full of good things, though I marginally prefer the slightly steadier tempo of Tetzlaff/Andsnes in the gruff Scherzo, giving it a darker hue that then makes the most telling contrast with the Trio. In the slow movement, it is Faust et al who delve deepest, the most sparing use of vibrato giving it a desolation compared to which Trio Karénine are more conventionally beautiful. But the new group convey the energy of the finale with great immediacy, combining a sense of freshness with a deep-seated understanding of Schumann’s world. A most impressive debut. (Harriet Smith / Gramophone)

Trio Karénine FAURÉ RAVEL TAILLEFERRE

At the point of intersection between Romanticism and modernism (Fauré); exotic accents, pastiches and neo-classicism (Tailleferre); a trio transformed into an orchestra and featuring the gentle rhythms of Basque dances (Ravel): these three trios, so close in time, all convey in very different ways the expression of the period they embody.

Fanny Robilliard / Paloma Kouider DEBUSSY - SZYMANOWSKI - HAHN - RAVEL

Violonist Fanny Robilliard commenced her studies at the age 16 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon with Marianne Piketty. First prize winner of Appassionato Competition 2006 in Caen, and Avignon International Competition 2007, she appeared as a soloist for several performances in France.

After getting her Diploma in the Masterclass at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, she was admitted in the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunks Orchester Academy. Named by french performing rights society “Adami” as “Révélation Classique 2010”, she has been a frequent guest in many festivals, including Aix-­en-­Provence, Prades, Baden Baden Festpiele, the Nymphenburger Schloss Konzert, Lenk Sommerakademy, Traunsteiner Sommerkonzerte.

Between 2012 - ­2014 she was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Karajan orchestra academy, which included regular concerts with the orchestra, as well as various chamber music performances and workshops with distinguished artists such as Simon Rattle, Christian Tetzlaff and Mitsuko Uchida.

Paloma Kouider studied with Sergueï Markarov at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and with Elisso Virssaladze in Florence. In 2012 she joined the class of Avedis Kouyoumdijan at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where her studies were further enriched by Claude Helffer in the field of contemporary music, and by Stéphane Béchy in early music and period performance. Paloma was named by French performing rights society ADAMI as a 'révélation classique', and was an award winner from the Groupe Banque Populaire foundation.

Invited at an early age to perform in prestigious programmes in Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and Japan, she has never neglected her passion for literature, which she pursues in a classe préparatoire at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

Alongside her concert activities, and in collaboration with Alexandra Soumm and Maria Mosconi, Paloma founded the association "Esperanz'Arts", which organises artistic events for the socially disadvantaged.