Fanny Azzuro

Do you like Brahms?
The Trio for horn, violin and piano is undoubtedly one of Johannes Brahms' finest masterpieces. Composed in 1864, Brahms, himself a horn enthusiast, thought of its themes while walking in the Black Forest: "One morning I was walking, and as I got there the sun began to shine between the trunks of the trees; the idea of the trio came to mind with its first theme. The horn is indeed the instrument with the most prominent role in all his symphonies.

The second highlight of the programme is, of course, Robert Schumann's Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano, composed thirteen years before Brahms' Trio, in 1851, when Schumann's mental decline was on the increase. Clara premiered the piece with Ferdinand David. Robert Schumann himself wrote of Johannes: "There has come that chosen one, whose cradle the graces and heroes seem to have watched over. His name is Johannes Brahms, he comes from Hamburg... 

As soon as he sits down at the piano, he leads us into wonderful regions, taking us with him into the world of the Ideal. His genial playing turned the piano into an orchestra of sorrowful and triumphant voices.

Thirty years after the composition of the Brahms Trio, Charles Koechlin wrote short luminous pieces for this same group. An "alchemist of sounds", Koechlin proved to be a very good orchestrator and composer, after studying with Gabriel Fauré, his mentor. Less well known than some other personalities of the French School, he nevertheless left a vast repertoire. 

It is without regret that he said in 1947: "In the evening of my life, I realise that the realisation of my dreams as an artist, however incomplete, has given me the intimate satisfaction of not having wasted my time on earth.

KOECHLIN
Four Little Pieces Op. 32 (trio)

SCHUMANN
Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano in A minor Op. 105

BRAHMS
Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Major Op. 40