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René de Castéra Piano Trio

Started by Sharkkb8, Tuesday 31 May 2016, 04:57

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Sharkkb8

Tuesday 31 May 2016, 04:57
Seeking any information (or opinions) about René de Castéra in general, or his Piano Trio in particular.  His dates are 1873-1955 and so the bulk of his work might not be appropriate here, at least not by chronological standards, but the op. 5 Piano Trio dates from 1904, and appears to be, at least with the info I've cobbled together so far, his most successful piece.  There is a Wikipedia page (in French) which suggests he was a pupil of d'Indy, Guilmant and Albeniz, and a colleague of Severac & Roussel, but not much more biographical info than that. 

Works:

Serenata Piano
On a Christmas Basque - organ
Popular songs, Landes
Songs and round Landes (Loÿs Labèque)
Shakespeare songs for choir and piano
Songs for voice and piano
Sonata for violin and piano
Trio for violin, cello and piano
Concert for piano, cello, flute and clarinet
Lent & Grave, for cello and piano
Sicilienne, cello and orchestra or piano and cello
Feast day in the Basque Country, symphonic poem
Nausicaa, ballet-pantomime with choir

There are cd's of chamber works  on the Azul and Recital labels, including an early as well as a later version of the Piano Trio.  And on Youtube, I was able to find a performance by the Ensemble Joseph Jongen (one of the above mentioned Recital recordings - links below).  Going back to the discussion about pieces which rightly should or shouldn't be on Youtube, these were posted by a Diane Andersen, who is one of the musicians on the album, so presumably the recording company is aware and has no objections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzm3VoCnstE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHt9bBhG2MQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad0-xRm2-Ek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz9vCN0xiGo

Gregory

Gareth Vaughan

#1
Tuesday 31 May 2016, 07:55
These links don't appear to work any more. At least they take one to a page saying the video is no longer available.

Sharkkb8

#2
Tuesday 31 May 2016, 08:06
Hmmmm, I clicked them again, and they work fine for me.  Maybe it's some arcane nation-by-nation permission thing?

Sharkkb8

#3
Tuesday 31 May 2016, 09:31
A related review, for as much or little as it's worth, from David Barker at musicweb.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Apr/Castera_chamber_v2_AZC109.htm

Gregory

jdperdrix

#4
Tuesday 31 May 2016, 09:39
I could not see the youtube videos either. It worked with a vpn. So it could be that it's blocked in some countries (I live in France).
The chamber music CD's (two volumes, both with the trio with very different timings, so there should be different versions) are downloadable from amazon.fr (or .de) for 8.99 euros. They don't seem to be available for download from amazon.com... Copyright issues?
A more extensive bio (in French only) can be found here:http://www.musimem.com/castera.htm

westham

#5
Tuesday 31 May 2016, 09:50
Both versions are also available as CD or download through CDBaby.

I'm the aforementioned reviewer at MusicWeb, and I preferred the original version (Vol. 2) to the revised one (Vol. 1).
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