Trio pour violon, violoncelle et piano

Trio pour Violon, Violoncelle et Piano (2003)

Written in 2003, the Piano Trio advances Mernier's Schumannian quest, this time in the form of a homage to the latter's admirable Trio in D minor op. 63 (which he likes to have programmed in the same concert, even though it countains not the slightest allusion). The polyphonic and especially the polyrhythmic complexity is pushed even further than in An die Nacht, for three solo chamber musicians can be treated with greater boldness than the desks of an orchestra. The work initially follows a descending trajectory of a progressive loss of energy: no sooner is a fast tempo established than it slows down more quickly than the preceding, and here, as with Schumann himself, we perceive a pallid, wan night, at times shot through with flashes of illusory brilliance, like aurorae boreales. The surges of acceleration and deceleration that are continually being cut short and most often superimposed where very loosely inspired by certain procedures of "rhythmic modulation" favoured by Eliott Carter (the composer, be it remembered, of the admirable Night Phantasies for piano). After the low point of the slow central section, the third and final part seeks to give itself mere ongoing momentum, but even so the ultimate affirmation is far from assured... (Harry Halbreich)

The work is recorded by Trio Fibonacci (CD Cyprès CYP4623)