The Trio Sonata Through Two Centuries’

Known as the ‘First Lady of the organ’, Marie-Claire Alain was a strikingly mature, creative and intuitive artist. Spanning four centuries of music, from Baroque masterpieces by the likes of Couperin and Grigny, through cornerstones of the French organ repertoire by Widor, Vierne and Messiaen, to two discs of works by her brother Jehan, this collection is testament to her vast and impressively wide-ranging recording legacy.

Known as the ‘First Lady of the organ’, Marie-Claire Alain was a strikingly mature, creative and intuitive artist. Spanning four centuries of music, from Baroque masterpieces by the likes of Couperin and Grigny, through cornerstones of the French organ repertoire by Widor, Vierne and Messiaen, to two discs of works by her brother Jehan, this collection is testament to her vast and impressively wide-ranging recording legacy.

Unlike Mozart's Clarinet Quintet (with masterly descendants by Brahms and Reger), Mozart's Oboe Quartet (one of the most distinguished works of oboe literature) remained without successors for over one and a half centuries. ….. So it was only natural that I should ask two of my closest friends to write something for this at once problematic and fascinating formation. Both composers had already made very significant contributions to the oboe literature: Elliott Carter (who, as a student, played the oboe himself) with such works as the Oboe Concerto, the "Trilogy" for Oboe and Harp and the Italian song settings "Tempo e Tempi"; Isang Yun with his Oboe Concerto, the Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp, the Sonata for Oboe, Viola and Harp, the Inventions for Two Oboes and many other works.
Heinz Holliger

from the attached booklet