Trio

Constantly shifting from the most impulsive exuberance to the most restrained meditation, from the most intense passion to the most innocent tenderness, this programme forms a representative panorama of Schumann’s chamber music. Going beyond the piano trios, which already give us a fully rounded account of Schumann, Trio Wanderer have invited their favourite partners to join them for their interpretation of two supreme masterpieces - the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet.

For close to 300 years Bach’s Goldberg Variations have awed performers as well as listeners, through an unparalleled combination of a dazzling variety of expression and breath-taking virtuosity with stupendous polyphonic mastery. No wonder then that other musicians than harpsichordists have wanted to make it their own – pianists, first and foremost, but also accordion players and guitarists, flautists and harpists. Having performed and recorded much of the classical as well as the modern string trio repertoire, Trio Zimmermann began working on the Goldberg Variations several years ago, playing an existing arrangement. But in their own words, the three members – among the leading string players of our time – ‘soon became captivated by the original score and its innumerable beauties and details’. As a result they have jointly prepared a performing version which here receives its first recording. Playing an important part on this album are also the Trio’s instruments – all by Antonio Stradivarius, and featured in close-up on the cover.

Memorabilia was written in 2016 followed by a premiere at JazzFest in Trondheim. The music is written by jazz bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen and performed by two trios: Mats Eilertsen Trio (Harmen Fraanje, piano: Thomas Strønen, drums and Mats Eilertsen, bass), and the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval (the acclaimed trio of Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Jorunn Lovise Husan), both known for numerous recordings for ECM.