Debussy Sonatas by Te Kōkī Trio

BEST CLASSICAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR nominee (2017 NZ Music Awards)

For their debut release on Rattle, Te Kōkī Trio has chosen a programme of some of the most beautiful small-scale chamber music ever written, 50 minutes of sublime music by composer Claude Debussy.

This wonderful recording combines works from the opposite ends of Debussy’s career. The Piano Trio is among Debussy’s first works for piano, written while he was employed by Tchaikovsky’s patron, Nadezhda von Meck. It evinces the spirit of the age in Paris, as seen through a young man finding his voice. Charming and amiable, it is salon music in the best sense, the type that amateurs would play together in those evenings so well described by writers such as Marcel Proust.

In sharp contrast to the piano trio, the Cello Sonata stretches the limits of sonata form as well as those of the instrument itself. There are moments of melancholy and lyricism in this piece that may remind the listener of the turmoil in Debussy’s life at the time, such as the trauma of the First World War, but also the unbearable knowledge and pain of his terminal illness.

The Violin Sonata was the last composition Debussy completed. In poor health and shaken by the effects of war, this work suggests a new direction for the composer, who completed it and performed it only a year before his death in 1918. This great work remains one of Debussy’s most imaginative and exceptional compositions.

While it’s certainly true to say that Te Kōkī Trio is one of our finest chamber music ensembles, and that it features three of our most accomplished musicians, the sheer beauty of this album may just take you by surprise.