21 - 22

EN

Since its first concert in 2011, Trio Khaldei has

developed from a young, promising ensemble to a

crowd favourite on Belgium’s biggest stages. In

2013, the trio was one of the six ensembles

nominated for the first edition of the Supernova

competition. Over the last few years, the trio has

performed in many cultural centres throughout the

country, in prestigious venues such as the Centre

for Fine Arts (Brussels), AMUZ (Antwerp), De

Bijloke (Ghent) and the Concertgebouw in Bruges,

as well as at numerous festivals in Belgium and

abroad, including the Ghent Festival of Flanders,

Festival 20/21, En Avant Mars, Is Arti (Lithuania),

the Spectrum Festival and the Arsana Festival

(Slovenia), Eesti Kontsert (Estonia), Baltais Fligelis

(Latvia) and Performer’s Present International

Artistic Symposium (Singapore). The trio has also

recorded for Belgian stations Canvas (television)

and Klara (radio) and the Slovenian National Radio.

Trio Khaldei’s first CD, dedicated to Shostakovich

and Prokofiev, was released in spring 2017 by

French label Paraty (distributed worldwide by

Harmonia Mundi). It was very well received by the

press and the audience. The second CD, dedicated

to Hummel, Brahms and Schönberg, was released

by the same label at the end of May 2019.

Trio Khaldei brings together Barbara Baltussen (piano), Pieter Jansen(violin) and Francis Mourey (cello), three musicians with a passionfor chamber music and, more specifically, for the unique sonority ofthe piano trio.

TRIOKHALDEI

Trio Khaldei has a particular affinity with Russian

music from the first half of the 20th Century,

especially music by Shostakovich. The trio’s

namesake, Evgueni Khaldei, was the official

photographer of the Stalin regime, and created

striking portraits of all the great Russian artists of

the time. The search for truth, authenticity and the

nuances brought by this photographer to difficult

moments throughout his life are a great source of

inspiration for the trio.

Trio Khaldei likes to bring together music from times

past and present in its programs, introducing the

public to music by lesser-known composers as well

as the great masters.

The program Impressive Impressionism brings

together Ravel's trio, La Mer by Debussy (arr. Sally

Beamish) and the colourful music of the Belgian

composer Frits Celis. A Melancholic Birthday offers

the legendary Trio in Eb by Franz Schubert,

accompanied by Piazzolla's Four Seasons of

Buenos Aires and a little-known Trio by the young

César Franck.

PROGRAMS21 - 22

LAMER

Trio Khaldei extends the limits of the triorepertoire by offering new arrangements fromthe great symphonic repertoire. Thesearrangements inevitably shed another light onthis orchestral music, thought to be knowninside and out, and allow this iconic repertoireto be presented on stages that the originalversion would never reach.

The adaptation for piano trio of Debussy's LaMer by Sally Beamish is a prime example. Thisre-orchestration does not simply reproducethe main elements of the original, but offers aperfect adaptation of the work to the colours ofthe piano trio. This emblematic piece of thegreat orchestral repertoire reveals itself in itsessence: intense, colourful, intimate.

La Mer, Debussy's orchestral masterpiece in a fantastic arrangement forpiano trio by Sally Beamish

TRIOKHALDEI

Debussy and Schönberg have, each in their own way, abandoned thetraditional form of the symphony to turn to that of the symphonic poem,a form offering all the freedom necessary to translate into music a sourceof extra-musical inspiration.

The sea in all its qualities inspired Debussy in 1905 to write a symphonicpoem in three parts: De l’Aube à midi sur la mer, Jeux de vagues andDialogue du vent et de la mer.

A few years earlier - in 1899 - Schönberg used the famous poem byRichard Dehmel to compose his string sextet "Verklärte Nacht", bringingthe romantic style to its climax.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY La Mer (arr. S. Beamish)

ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG Verklärte Nacht (arr. E. Steuermann)

DE L’AUBE À LA NUIT

La Mer and Verklärte Nacht, two emblematic symphonic poemsunited in the same program.

60’

TRIOKHALDEI

45’

FRITS CELIS Trio, op. 5CLAUDE DEBUSSY La Mer (arr. S. Beamish)

90’

Called to the front in 1914, Maurice Ravel hadto urgently finish the composition of his PianoTrio. The haste of the writing process hasspawned one of the most innovative andcolourful pieces in the history of chamber music.The inspiration of Basque rhythms, a form ofMalaysian poetry and the exploration of theextremes of each instrument make it a truemasterpiece.

Trio Khaldei, great defender of Belgian music,offers you in addition to these two Frenchicons the colourful music of the Belgiancomposer Frits Celis. His Trio Op. 5, composedin 1958, is characterised by a very strongrhythmic tension, a clear structure but above allan admirable and wide palette of timbres.

Impressive, rich and bewitching, impressionistmusic occupies a unique place in the history ofmusic. Intimate and subtle sound fields, freerharmony, floating rhythms, oriental influencesand the influence of jazz music are all newsources of inspiration for composers.

For Claude Debussy, a symphonic poem wasthe obvious choice to represent the sea and allits qualities. In three parts, De l’Aube à midi surla mer, Jeux de vagues and Dialogue du vent etde la mer, it's one of the main orchestral piecesof this period. Presented here in anarrangement by Sally Beamish, this workreveals itself in its essence.

FRITS CELIS Trio, op. 5

MAURICE RAVEL Trio

CLAUDE DEBUSSY La Mer (arr. S. Beamish)

IMPRESSIVE IMPRESSIONISM

The culmination of impressionist orchestral and chamber music

TRIOKHALDEI

AMELANCHOLICBIRTHDAY

95'

A MELANCHOLIC BIRTHDAY

In this program, Trio Khaldei brings togetherthree composers mastering the sound ofmelancholy, who will celebrate a specialanniversary in 2021-2022.

César Franck, the most famous of all Belgiancomposers, was born in 1822 and found in hiswork the ultimate symbiosis of GermanRomanticism and French Impressionism. HisPiano Trio Op. 1, No. 1 is a rarely-played pearl.

Born in 1921, Astor Piazzolla, the greatArgentine tango master, represents the fourseasons in Buenos Aires in a unique way.These are four nostalgic tangos in which LatinAmerica and Europe meet and blend.

Franz Schubert's second Piano Trio in Eb isone of the absolute highlights of the piano triorepertoire. This trio is one of Schubert's lastcompositions, written a year before his deathin 1828. Schubert based the secondmovement, Andante con moto, on a Swedishfolk song: Se solen sjunker.“Watch the sun descend behind the highpeaks of the mountains. Oh beautiful hope, youflee the dark shadows of the night. ”

La mélancolie, c’est le bonheur d’être triste.— Victor Hugo

CÉSAR FRANCK Trio, Op. 1 No. 1

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Four seasons of Buenos Aires

FRANZ SCHUBERT Trio in Es, D929

TRIOKHALDEI65'

FRANZ SCHUBERT Trio in Es, D929

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Four seasons of Buenos Aires

DMITRISHOSTAKOVICHTRIO KHALDEI MEETS BiSS QUARTET

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Quartet No. 1, Op. 49

Trio No. 2, Op. 67

Élégie and Polka for quartet, Op. 36a

Quintet, Op. 57

60’

90'

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Trio Khaldei returns to its first love: the music ofDmitri Shostakovich. The ensemble's favoritepiece, the second trio, with its haunting anddisturbing character, leaves no one indifferent.

After the arrangement of the last symphony forpiano trio and percussion trio a few years ago,the trio offers you again a work in which the triois part of a larger formation. The piano quintet,written in 1940, was an immediate success andremains to this day one of the strong points ofthis formation’s repertoire.

For this occasion, Trio Khaldei joins forces withBiSS Quartet in a very special collaboration, theensembles having two musicians in common:violinist Pieter Jansen and cellist FrancisMourey. This unique symbiosis between stringquartet and pianist in the quintet promises realfireworks!

www.triokhaldei.comwww.bissquartet.com

A unique fusion of two iconic formations - string quartet and piano trio - inmasterpieces by Shostakovich.

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Trio No. 1, Op. 8

Quartet No. 1, Op. 49

Quintet, Op. 57

TRIOKHALDEI

DEBUTS

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first Piano Trio atthe age of 17. This one-movement trio wasdedicated to Tatjana Glivienko and originallyentitled ‘Poème’, and it is no less rich in temposand characters.This programme is also a chance to discover twolesser-known composers. The Belgian composerGillis Sacré wrote Sursum for the Khaldei Trio in2015.Gaspar Cassadó was a famous Catalan cellist ofthe first half of the 20th Century, who studiedcomposition with Maurice Ravel. He composed abrilliantly virtuoso trio, influenced by earlierSpanish models, but revealing great panache andconsiderable demands via guitar imitations,malagueña rhythms and lashings of folkloric brio.

75'

DEBUTS

Writing a piano trio is a challenge for anycomposer. The repertoire is already rich withcountless masterpieces. In addition, striking theright balance between the unique but formidablecombination of the tonal colours of the piano andstrings makes the trio a tough taskmaster.Although the pieces in this programme are part ofeach composer’s early works, certain typicalcharacteristics of their later styles are alreadyaudible. In Jean Sibelius’ Trio in C Major, we hearthe first signs of the narrative style of his futureorchestral works.Sergei Rachmaninoff’s first Elegiac Trio, writtenin 1892 when he was 19, pays homage to hismentor, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Despite hisyouth, Rachmaninoff showcases a mature rangeof tonal colours in the piano part.

Five composers experimented at the start of their careers with thechallenging form that is the piano trio.

JEAN SIBELIUS Trio "Lovisa", JS 208

GILLIS SACRÉ Sursum

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Trio No. 1, Op. 8

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Trio élégiaque No. 1

GASPAR CASSADO Trio

60'JEAN SIBELIUS Trio "Lovisa", JS 208

GILLIS SACRÉ Sursum

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Trio No. 1, Op. 8

GASPAR CASSADO Trio

TRIOKHALDEI

EASTMEETS WEST

1882

1882Johannes Brahms’ Second Piano Trio is thelesser known of the three trios he wrote. Itcontains a unique richness and reveals acomposer at the peak of his abilities. Usuallyvery critical of himself, the composer seemedquite convinced of this particular work, writingto his publisher: "You have never received sucha fine trio from me, and in all likelihood no workof this quality has been published in the last tenyears."

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky dedicated his pianotrio to his teacher and friend Nikolai Rubinstein,who died in March 1881. The work, with themention "In memory of a great artist", is a sortof requiem, intimate and deeply moving. This isthe only work that Tchaikovsky ever wrote forpiano trio. After the completion of this opus, heseemed to remain dubious about hiscomposition, and wrote: "... after composing allmy life works for orchestra, I am afraid I wrotea music with a strong symphonic character, not

adapted to the three instruments." Be that as itmay, Tchaikovsky, to our mind, brings togetherthe best of two worlds: the symphoniccharacter is present, and he masterfullyexploits all the combinations of colours of thepiano trio.

We open the concert with Igor Stravinsky’sItalian Suite, from the Pulcinella ballet. Born in1882 in the same country as Tchaïkovsky, helater migrated to the west; to France and thento America. He is perhaps one of the mostprominent composers of the twentieth century,and personifies better than anyone the meetingof East and West.

TRIOKHALDEI

In this program, we see the contrasts and similaritiesbetween two of the most representative trios in music history,both written in 1882.

IGOR STRAVINSKY Suite Italienne

JOHANNES BRAHMS Trio in C, Op. 87

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Trio in a, Op. 50

95'

VERKLÄRTENACHT

A century and a day in Vienna with Hummel's morning spirit,the passionate Brahms and Schönberg’s Transfigured Night.

The program of our second recording.

This program is a double journey through time. On one hand, the threepieces selected span a century in the history of the Viennese piano trio;Hummel’s work, composed in 1799, keeps a foot firmly in the classicalera; Brahms’ second piano trio, written in 1882, is a crown jewel ofViennese romanticism, and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is a perfectexample of the atmosphere that reigned in the city at the turn of thecentury.

In addition, the three works mirror the intensities of the day. Hummel’slight and sparkling trio evokes the morning, Brahms’ resplendent andwell-worked piece represents the afternoon and evening andSchoenberg’s composition, as the title already indicates, relates to thedark, moonlit night.

TRIOKHALDEI

JOHANN NEPOMUK HUMMEL Trio No. 2 in F, Op. 22

JOHANNES BRAHMS Trio No. 2 in C, Op. 87

ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG Verklärte Nacht (arr. E. Steuermann)

70'

VERKLÄRTE NACHT

TRIO KHALDEI vzwcontact@triokhaldei.comwww.triokhaldei.com

MANAGEMENT ‐ Els & the ArtistsEls Moens+32 496 81 39 97els.moens@telenet.bewww.elsandtheartists.be

CONTACT

photos Nicolas Draps

www.triokhaldei.comKHALDEITRIO