Three French Piano Trios - Florestan Trio

Piano Trio in D minor Op 120[19'19]Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
1
Allegro, ma non troppo[5'50]
2
Andantino[9'06]
3
Allegro vivo[4'23]
Piano Trio in G major L5[19'37]Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
4
Andantino con moto allegro[7'48]
5
Scherzo – Intermezzo: Moderato con allegro[3'26]
6
Andante espressivo[3'26]
7
Finale: Appassionato[4'57]
Piano Trio[25'51]Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
8
Modéré[8'55]
9
Pantoum: Assez vif[4'23]
10
Passacaille: Très large[7'19]
11
Final: Animé[5'14]
The three trios on this disc are the work of, respectively, a teenager, a nearly-forty-year-old and a seventy-seven-year-old. So it's understandable not only that the difference in musical language is even greater than the composers' names might suggest, but that each may be heard as having a different significance within its composer's oeuvre.

To modern ears the Debussy trio appears to be nothing like the mature Debussy we know, but more like Delibes. Although maybe no more than salon music, it gives immediate pleasure If this Trio shows us a young composer in search of his technique, Ravel's trio shows us a middle-aged one exulting in his. A wonderfully written piano trio which in the hands of The Florestan Trio shows a work of true magic. Likewise the Fauré—a trio written at the end of his life and showing the profound and austere characteristics of his last works.