JOSEPH GUY ROPARTZ (1864-1955): Piano Trio in A Minor, RHENÉ-BATON (1879-1940): Piano Trio, Op. 31.
Catalogue Number: 10J007
Label: Atma
Reference: ACD2 2542
Format: CD
Price: $16.98
Description: Collectors of Timpani's Ropartz series take note! This Canadian label provides us with the only available recording of his large-scale, 37-minute piano trio from 1918. In Franckian, cyclic form, it is full of broad, yearning melodies and rich, full harmonies. The billowing sea, its ebb and flow, so much a part of the Breton mind, is almost ever-present in this darkly romantic work, whose finale also offers memorable folk-like themes. Although born in Normandy and raised in Paris, Rhené-Baton (known primarily as a conductor), adopted Brittany as a spiritual home at the age of 19. Dating only five years after Ropartz' trio, this one is shorter (23 minutes) but equally steeped in the often pensive and melancholic Breton culture (the second movement quotes a Breton folk song). Trio Hochelaga.