Trio "Zadig" by P.I. Tchaikovsky and D.D. Shostakovich

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio "In Memory of a Great Artist" and Dmitry Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 are performed by the Zadig Trio.

These two piano trios echo the composers' personal losses.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky dedicated his work to Nikolai Rubinstein, who died prematurely in 1881. Rubinstein was very dear to him as a friend, mentor, and a brilliant interpreter of his works. The composer grieved over Rubinstein's death: "My mind is dark, and it cannot be otherwise, given such insoluble questions for a weak mind as death, the purpose and meaning of life, its infinity or finitude." He reflected his grief in his work.

Dmitry Shostakovich began writing the trio in December 1943. A few days before completing the first part of the piece, the composer's good friend Ivan Sollertinsky, a Russian polymath and avid musician, died at the age of 41. Sollertinsky's death deeply affected Shostakovich, and he decided to dedicate the trio to his friend's memory. In the following months, he suffered from periods of depression and struggled to compose, at one point writing, "...it seems to me I will never be able to live without him." The composer completed the trio in the summer of 1944.

The Zadig Trio performs works by Russian composers with great sensitivity and depth at the Church of Saint-Pierre Cuisine in Toulouse.

PERFORMERS:

Trio Zadig: Ivan Barber (piano), Marc Girard-Garcia (cello), Boris Borgolotto (violin).

WORKS:

P.I. Tchaikovsky. Piano Trio "In Memory of a Great Artist" in A minor, Op. 50;

D.D. Shostakovich. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67;

F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49.

Church of St. Peter Cuisine, Toulouse