Three masterworks by Ravel, Chausson, and Françaix — With Yura Lee, Kristin Lee, Richard O'Neill, Nicholas Canellakis, Arnaud Sussmann, and Wu Han

An incredible technician gifted with a prolific imagination, Jean Françaix dedicated his light-hearted and spontaneous String Trio to the famed Pasquier Trio. Its two outer movements are rhythmically driven and dancelike, contrasting starkly with the tender and transparent atmosphere of the two inner movements. Composed while working on L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel’s Tzigane is a masterpiece commissioned by and dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi (great-niece of the inimitable Joseph Joachim). A set of freely-improvised variations accompanied intermittently by piano, the rhapsody calls on the virtuosic violinist’s entire toolbox of special techniques, climaxing in the turbulent finale of gypsy-inspired frenzy. Finally, Chausson’s Concerto for piano, violin and string quartet is one of the works he composed in his final decade before his deadly bicycle accident at the age of 44. The work brilliantly combines the harmonic system of his mentor César Franck with the lighter rhythmic universe of Fauré. At the time of its premiere, the music critic Pierre Lalo described it as “one of the most significant and interesting chamber music works that has been written in recent years.”