Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer Festival: Fauré, Beethoven, & Enescu

Gabriel Fauré – La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61
Nicholas Phan, tenor / Benjamin Bowman, violin / Alexander Kerr, violin / Beth Guterman Chu, viola / Julie Albers, cello / Joseph Kaufman, double bass / Piers Lane, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven – Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69
Paul Watkins, cello / Alessio Bax, piano

Georges Enescu – Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor (US premiere)
James Ehnes, violin / Ani Aznavoorian, cello / Angela Drăghicescu, piano

Program Notes
Based on poems by Verlaine, Fauré's La Bonne Chanson is a set of nine short songs that was revised from a voice and piano version to add a string quintet. Fauré uses several melodies throughout, bringing them all together in the final song, “L’hiver a cessé.”

Beethoven's Cello Sonata opens with a theme that he will continue to develop and play with, much as he does with his Fifth Symphony, which premiered during the same year as this cello sonata.

Thought lost, Enescu's First Piano Trio was brought to light when a set of parts was recently discovered. The trio was written while he was a teenager studying in Vienna. This performance is the US premiere of the piece.

About Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS)

http://www.seattlechambermusic.org/