Shani Finn

This recording features two major works of the chamber repertoire – one by Antonín Dvořák, the other by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The two composers were contemporaries, born just a year apart: Tchaikovsky in 1840 and Dvořák in 1841. In the 1880s (Tchaikovsky’s Op.50 dates from 1881, Dvořák’s Op.65 from 1883), neither man was known for his chamber music – Tchaikovsky’s reputation was based on his opera and ballet scores (works such as Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake), while Dvořák had made his name with works influenced by Slavonic folk music (the Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances). Each of these two piano trios therefore has its own unique character, and both works signal new directions in the style of their respective composers.

This unique quartet came into being through an encounter the Chanteurs d Oiseaux, Jean Boucault and Johnny Rasse, had with pianist Shani Diluka and violinist Genèvieve Laurenceau. Their album illustrates the extraordinarily deep and long-lasting tie that links music to the song of birds. In all its infinite variety, birdsong, an age-old and limitless well of inspiration and symbol of freedom, offers a whole new way of listening to the great composers. Echoing Mozart, Casals, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Grieg, Messiaen, Tchaikovsky and many others, nightingales, chaffinches, warblers and blackbirds add their own music to 'The Symphony of The Birds'.

There is an indisputable historical link between Beethoven and Indian culture: in his quest to fathom the depths of this culture, and captivated by the translation of the Upanishads that was published in Germany in 1816, he immersed himself well and truly in these ancient texts, just as Schopenhauer did, or like Goethe discovering the great Persian poet Hafez when writing his last major collection, the 'West-Eastern Divan'. We see here a mystical Beethoven, scrutinising man and the cosmos and especially curious about other cultures.

Music is flux. Only the printed music on the page appears to us to be something objective, inalterable. Yet, the actual experience of music, which occurs anew and uniquely in each performance, is subjected to continual changes in spite of all “faithfulness to the original.” Personal experiences of life inform the effect of the music. It is the power of great music to convey its individual message at any time to every person. Thus the recordings on this album represent an invitation to undertake a very personal journey into Beethoven’s world.

Music is flux. Only the printed music on the page appears to us to be something objective, inalterable. Yet, the actual experience of music, which occurs anew and uniquely in each performance, is subjected to continual changes in spite of all “faithfulness to the original.” Personal experiences of life inform the effect of the music. It is the power of great music to convey its individual message at any time to every person. Thus the recordings on this album represent an invitation to undertake a very personal journey into Beethoven’s world.