Composer: Claude Achille Debussy, Maurice Ravel
Performer: Feininger Trio
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avi Music
Catalogue: AVI8553317
Release: 2017
Size: 610 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Debussy: Piano Trio in G major
01. I. Andantino con moto allegro
02. II. Scherzo – Intermezzo. Moderato allegro
03. III. Andante espressivo
04. IV. Finale. Appassionato
Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
05. I. Modéré
06. II. Pantoum. Assez vif
07. III. Passacaille. Tres large
08. IV. Finale. Animé
Debussy: Petite Suite
09. I. En Bateau. Andantino
10. II. Cortège. Moderato
11. III. Menuet. Moderato
12. IV. Ballet. Allegro giusto
Claude Debussy was ten years old when was subjected to regular schooling for the first time in his life – when he entered the Paris Conservatoire. He had never attended primary school; instead, his mother had taught him reading, writing and arithmetic as best she could. At the piano, meanwhile, he had revealed his talent as a child prodigy, and his fate was sealed. The conservatory professors soon found, however, that this pupil was different, strong-willed, impetuous, and rebellious. His somewhat conservative piano teacher Antoine François Marmontel, for one, could make no headway whatsoever with the young savage. After initial successes, disenchantment followed in 1880. Debussy was only awarded a “diploma” in piano accompaniment: this was the conservatory jury’s way of granting the would-be virtuoso a mere consolation prize. The child prodigy had failed. It is all the more curious to learn, therefore, that Marmontel was the one who directed Debussy’s attention to a lucrative opportunity: Nadezhda von Meck, the eccentric widow of a rich Baltic German railroad owner, was a patron of the arts with a particular penchant for music, and she was looking for a pianist to accompany her on her annual summer trips through Europe. The resulting piano trio is so spirited and full of vigor that the shadows in which it emerged are simply not noticeable: instead, it testifies to Ravel’s overflowing creative drive. Here, his style is fine-honed to the extreme, pointed and succinct, almost Constructivist. Innovative rhythms and metric structures are the Trio’s most striking feature. (Excerpt prom the liner notes by Susanne Ziese)