For their second album on Naïve, the three percussionists (marimba play-ers) of Trio SR9 have chosen to shine the light on the theme of dance, in all its rich variety through-out the history of Western classical music: from Rameau and Bach, to Debussy, Satie and Borodin.
So, shall we dance?
The first part of the album is a set of Baroque dances (Gavotte, Sarabande, Minuet, Gigue...) drawn from the legacy of various European com-posers. These pieces are presented in the form of a large suite, as was the tradition at the time.
Then we move on to explore Europe of the nine-teenth century. A taste for exoticism and folk dance rhythms are here made even more sublime by Claude Debussy with his Tarentelle Styrienne, Béla Bartok with the Romanian Dances and Alex-ander Borodin with his Polovtsian Dances.
The last part of the disc is dedicated to the mysti-cism of dance and begins, perhaps unsurprising-ly, with the Ritual Fire Dance by Manuel de Falla. It is followed by Narnchygäer, a new work for three marimbas and the first of its kind composed by François Tashdjian especially for the SR9 Trio.
Lastly, it is around the three Danse de Travers by Erik Satie that this programme is weaved. This common thread punctuates each part of the al-bum with sweetness and melancholy.
After a highly-regarded first album, Bach on the marimba, this new programme allows us to go one step further in revealing the many riches of the marimba, the sumptuously-crafted five-octave rosewood instrument. It's via the sound of three marimbas that the Trio SR9 demon-strates its ability to develop the reputation of percussion, all in one choreographed gesture ...
Allemande – Suite for three viols
| Antoine Forqueray 1672-1745
Courante – Harpsichord suite in D minor HWV 437
| George Frideric Handel 1685-1759
Gavotte – Harpsichord sonata in D minor K. 64
| Domenico Scarlatti 1685-1757
Bourrée – Les Nations « L’Impériale »
| François Couperin 1668-1733
Sarabande – Suite in A minor – New suites of
harpsichord pieces
| Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683-1764
Minuet – No.13 – Twenty keyboard pieces
| Henry Purcell 1659-1695
Gigue – French Suite No. 5 in G major BWV 816
| Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Crossed-up Dances no. 1 – Give it a good look
| Erik Satie 1866–1925
Tarentelle Styrienne L. 69
| Claude Debussy 1862-1918
Romanian Folk Dance no. 1 Op. 8a
| Béla Bartok 1881-1945
Polovtsian Dances no. 17, Prince Igor
| Alexander Borodin 1833-1887
Crossed-up Dances no. 2 - Go on
| Erik Satie
Ritual Fire Dance, El Amor Brujo
| Manuel De Falla 1876-1946
Narnchygäer - commission, world premiere recording
| François Tashdjian 1974
Crossed-up Dances