Black Oak Ensemble: Avant l'orage: French String Trios 1926–1939
Cedille Records

Comprised of Aurélien Fort Pederzoli (viola) and Lincoln Trio members Desirée Ruhstrat (violin) and David Cunliffe (cello), Black Oak Ensemble has commissioned and premiered new string trios from contemporary composers such as Michael Nyman and Conrad Tao; however, the Chicago-based outfit also seeks out rarely heard works deserving of attention, and it's this that is the focus of its second Cedille Records release. Seven multi-part pieces written between the World Wars appear on Avant l'orage: French String Trios 1926–1939, a double-CD set that shines a light on composers whose names should be better known to more than just music historians. That each work is enlivened by a zestful performance from the trio flatters the composer in question and does much to recommend the release.

Though some of the pieces were written almost a century ago, the release features world-premiere recordings of trios by Henri Tomasi, Robert Casadesus, and Gustave Samazeuilh. Joining them are ones by Jean Cras, Émile Goué, Jean Françaix, and Gabriel Pierné. The seven works share certain qualities, yet at the same time each distances itself from the others. One thread connecting five is that they were written for Trio Pasquier, an ensemble of three brothers whose performances during this twentieth-century period were celebrated. Despite the decades separating the string outfits, the recording makes it feel as if the earlier one's passing the baton to its modern-day counterpart to keep the music alive.

The tone is spiritedly set by Tomasi's Trio à cordes en forme de divertissement (1938), which carries the dedication “Pour les frères Pasquier” and receives its world premiere recording from Black Oak Ensemble. The vitality with which the string trio invests its performances is evident immediately in its passionate execution of the “Prélude,” though the gentler passages are handled with equivalent aplomb. That's likewise evident in the sensitivity with which the trio essays the hushed “Nocturne” and the energized “Scherzo” and folk dance-inflected (and Stravinsky-esque too) “Final” that follow. That folk quality carries over into Cras's Trio pour violon, alto et violoncelle (1926) when elements of Celtic- and Breton-infused music emerge in the four-part work. Though the opening movement has no tempo marking or title, it's hardly without character, as its explorative interweave of undulating figures and melancholy expressions shows. The subsequent “Lent," certainly one of the release's most arresting movements, pays homage to the slow movement of Beethoven's Op. 132 string quartet in strikingly imaginative manner. Whereas the pizzicato-driven “Animé” charms for its levity and the seeming joy with which the string trio delivers it, the concluding “Très animé” endears for its jubilant Celtic jig flavour.

Goué composed his three-part Trio pour violon, alto et violoncelle (1939) before his World War II army deployment and later heard it in Paris seven years later, six months before his death. The propulsive “Presto” offers a high-energy lead-in to a lilting “Adagio,” whose peaceful character's undercut by its largely chromatic harmonic language, and the nimble, folk dance-inspired mischievousness of the “Final en forme de tarantelle.” Initiating Françaix's Trio (1933) is a rousing first movement that calls on Black Oak Ensemble's virtuosity and agility, but with three of the four parts marked “Vivo,” it's hardly the only one marked by liveliness. While a surprisingly rustic quality surfaces during the “Scherzo,” the concluding “Rondo” blends dance elements and cheeky humour into an engaging four-minute ride; it's the solemn “Andante” that's the outlier here, though its subdued pitch is welcome when accompanied by the spirited others.

The works by Casadesus, Samazeuilh, and Pierné on the second disc are as varied, well-crafted, and distinguished as those on the first. Contrasts in mood, style, tempo, and dynamics are plentiful, and again each trio separates itself from the others in distinct ways. In Casadesus's 1938 work, Trio à cordes, the central “Légende” is particularly transfixing for the haunting lyricism of its framing sections, with the bold dissonances of the closing “Allegro aperto” striking also. Though Samazeuilh was a Debussy disciple, the young composer even fortunate enough to have received tutoring from the master himself, he fashioned his Suite en trio pour violon, alto et violoncelle (1937) in the form of a Baroque dance suite. Each of the six parts naturally differs from the others, the “Française” courtly, the “Sarabande” sinuous, the “Divertissement” adventurous, and the “Musette” graceful. Premiered by Trio Pasquier at a March 1938 concert, Pierné's Trois pièces en trio (1937) cleverly incorporates the three brothers into the work's contrapuntal “Modéré, sans lenteur” in the form of name-themes (e.g., “Jean” represented by C#-E-A-G for the violin part). Even more fun emerges in the satirical closing movement, with the “Les trois clercqs de Sainct-Nicholas” title referencing three intoxicated “fat cats” (an ironic allusion to clerics or priests) at the fair and out on the town. It's the lovely “Chanson” at the work's centre that charms the most, however.

September 2022