Debussy’s richly atmospheric Trois Chansons de Bilitis (based on erotic poems presented as translations of ancient Greek verses, but were actually elaborate fabrications) depict the life and loves of a fictional contemporary of Sappho. The deaths of several close friends and colleagues inspired Brett Dean’s Epitaphs, “an expression of loss and contemplation; of energetic lives fulfilled as well as of lives cut short.” Tchaikovsky dedicated his monumental piano trio to his friend and teacher Nikolai Rubinstein, whose death consumed Tchaikovsky with grief. The virtuoso piano part (Rubinstein was an excellent pianist and would likely have adored performing the monumental series of variations), sweeping narrative, and tender nuances combine to paint a truly lavish portrait of “the memory of a great artist.”
6:30PM PRELUDE TALK
with Celine Gosselin (Case Western Reserve University)
Claude Debussy
Trois Chansons de Bilitis
Brett Dean
Epitaphs for String Quintet
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Trio in A minor
