Two world premiere recordings on this release with string trios by Eugène Ysaÿe; the most important performer and composer for the development of modern violin technique. These works have been rediscovered and reconstructed from manuscripts by the Norwegian violinist and musicologist Tor Johan Bøen.
Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931) the composer
The foremost performer of his time, Ysaÿe inspired composers like Franck, Debussy, Chausson and others to write some of their most important works for him. But he kept his own work as a composer much of a secret, even to the people close to him. The exception of course being the six sonatas for solo violin, who in turn are the most central works of modern violin repertoire. The newly discovered and reconstructed trios presented here reveal how Ysaÿe, with his unique style of playing, explored and developed musical language, forms, counterpoint, and polyphonic part writing. With his musical ideas and knowledge of the instrument possibilities Ysaÿe brought the genre of the string trio to a new level.
Three trios for strings – one of them premiered in Norway in 2008
The works on this CD were written in the years 1914-27, but only one of them were performed during Ysaÿe’s own lifetime. While Premier Trio de Concert (later named Le Chimay) was premiered in 1964, the 2eme Trio had to wait until the next millennium for its first performance. Never before published, it only existed in manuscript which formed the basis for the premiere in remote Ås Old Church (Norway), 28 February 2008, by Bøen, Jopling and Martens.
The restoration – searching for Ysaÿe
Tor Johan Bøen (1971) made his violin debut in 1993, after studies with Leif Jørgensen, Lars Anders Tomter, Camilla Wicks and Sergiu Luca. Bøen started his search for the fragments of these fantastic string trios as his Doctorate project at Rice University in Houston, Texas. During this enormous puzzle with manuscripts and sketches, Bøen has discovered, documented and registered how Ysaÿe until the very end made fundamental revisions and improvements of his works, even after the parts had been written out. As a direct consequence of this research, the world now has the opportunity through editions and recording to come closer to the visions Ysaÿe had for his own music.
