It takes not only talent and hard work to become a successful musician. In a young musician’s career development, key roles are played by excellent teachers. Students mastering their skills with the artists of the NFM Leopoldinum String Trio are surely given the best tuition possible the results of their work will be presented at the Leo Festival during a very special evening with chamber music.
The Jean Françaix pieces distinguish themselves with cheerful moods and light textures. It seems natural when we realise that Français found writing music quite easy. Moreover, he wrote his first compositions when he was barely six. He went down in history as the author of extraordinary chamber pieces. One of his signature works is the String Trio written in 1933, a joyous work devoid of pathos. It is worth noting that Françaix’s success was undoubtedly influenced by his famous composition professor Nadia Boulanger. She was an artist whose teaching talent attracted dozens of young composers to Paris over a few decades of the 20th century. Johannes Brahms’s String Sextet No. 2 in G major is in stark contrast to the Français work. Brahms was deemed not only an excellent symphonic composer but also a superb author of chamber music. The first three movements of his Sextet were sent to Clara Schumann, wife of Robert and Brahms’s love and lifelong friend, as a Christmas gift. But it was not only Clara who made Brahms’s heart throb – the culminating melody of the first movement is in fact a musical portrait of Agathe von Siebold, another lady with whom Brahms was romantically involved.
Max Bruch was not very keen on writing chamber works. As he said he preferred composing three full oratorios for orchestra and choir to writing three string quartets. Works for small instrumental ensembles are indeed a rarity in Max Bruch’s work. His only String Octet was written by the 82-year-old Bruch in the last months of his life.