Tailleferre, Fontyn & Ravel

Named after the German poet Christian Morgenstern, the Franco-German "Morgenstern Trio" has selected a "triad" of Franco-Belgian composers for their new CD, centered around Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor (1914). Violinist, pianist and teacher Kolja Lessing, a friend of the trio, drew their attention to the two relatively unknown works by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) and Jacqueline Fontyn (born in 1930). For the three trio members, the main point of interest lay not so much in certain traits of style

or character these three Franco-Belgian works might eventually share, nor in the fact that two of the composers are women. Instead, their goal was to explore aspects of historical context and mutual influence among composers. "Ravel wrote his trio in 1914, and Tailleferre the first version of her trio two years later. We thought it would be particularly worthwhile to find out how two French-speaking composers, both known to be admirers of Ravel, wrote in this genre.