Liszt: Tristia, S723 (arranged from Vallée d'Obermann S160/6)

This resolutely elegiac disc offers an opportunity to discover, through their chamber music, the dark side of two composers who are not often associated. Smetana’s primary purpose was to give utterance to a cry of pain at his daughter’s death through the appropriate medium of the piano trio. In the Liszt pieces, elegies and funeral gondolas remind us of the deeply human and tormented nature of a composer haunted by death and who, more than any other, was capable of expressing its icy smile. The Trio Wanderer realise all this in deeply moving performances.

Since 1999, the Trio Wanderer has released, on Le Chant du Monde and harmonia mundi, a series of recordings that have received a warm welcome from the press, winning notably a best of the year award from Le Monde de la Musique for its CD of Haydn trios, and numerous international awards for Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet and the trios of Shostakovich and Saint-Saëns. Its recording of the Brahms piano trios was honoured by a Diapason d’Or of the year 2006 and the Midem Classical Award in the chamber music category in January 2007. In 2009, the Trio Wanderer was voted ‘Best chamber music ensemble’ at the Victoires de la Musique for the third time (after 1997 and 2000).

Jean-Marc Phillips plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1738). Raphaël Pidoux plays a violoncello by Gioffredo Cappa (1680).

Frederic Chopin’s Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3, is one of the few pieces this composer ever wrote for an instrument besides piano. Written when he was only 19 years old, in the autumn of 1829, Chopin had fallen head over heels for a young woman in Warsaw. Unfortunately for Chopin, the love was unrequited. Chopin's father, in hopes of easing Chopin's heartbreak took his son on a week-long trip to visit the estate of Prince Radziwill, who had two beautiful young daughters. At least one of the daughters, Wanda, was a pianist. He composed the Polonaise Brillante for her to practice with her cello-playing father. Chopin wrote later to a friend that the piece was merely a salon piece to be enjoyed casually and that he had written it in a manner so as to show off the young Wanda's pretty fingers. However, he must have held it in some high regard, for he included it on a concert tour in 1830, dedicating it to Joseph Merk, a renowned cellist. Chopin also later added an introduction to the Polonaise, making the piece Introduction and Polonaise Brillante. His friend, the great cellist August Joseph Franchomme, helped Chopin make necessary revisions before its publication in 1833.

This trio includes the exceptionally talented Kit Armstrong, pianist, composer and pupil of Alfred Brendel. The cellist, Adrian Brendel, is Alfred Brendel’s son and Andrej Bielow leads the Szymanovski Quartet.

1CD (+Bonus DVD)