Sensitive debut with rare music

The beginning of the CD is somewhat strange, as an intro to the tuning of the string instruments, and even more so the program: Max Reger's first string trio from 1904 is heard between the works of three later composers. This doesn't seem particularly coherent, rather contrived, but after all, this is a recording debut, and the musicians probably wanted to present their own musical versatility in addition to their stylistic versatility - which they succeed in doing beautifully. The three from the Triologie string trio met in 2019 while studying for a master's degree at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and have been performing together ever since.

There is a lot to discover on the CD, not only Reger's trio, but also two early modern composers: Emmy Frensel Wegener (1901-1973) from the Netherlands composed mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, but then had to give it up due to illness. Her entertaining five-movement work from 1925 is wonderfully light and is performed nimbly by Triologie, as is the charming string trio by Australian Miriam Hyde (1913-2003). She was nineteen years old when she wrote it. It marks the beginning of a rich compositional and, incidentally, literary oeuvre for which Hyde was honored several times. The main work on the CD, however, is the one-movement piece A tres voces by the Cuban Tania León, born in 1943. Created in 2010, it combines elements of new music with Afro-American rhythms. But by no means in a bold crossover manner. The drive is subtle, but carries the tension, the music reflects, goes astray, breaks the flow with soloistic interludes and always has surprises in store. The three musicians also do justice to this world premiere recording of the music with their precise, sensitive and extremely transparent playing. It gets to the point.

A tres voces. Triologie String Trio (Elodie Théry, cello; Meredith Kuliew, viola; Nevena Tochev, violin). Prospero PROSP0101