Tour de France
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.LM202

By Trio Arkaede. By Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Durufle, Melanie (Mel) Bonis, Philippe Gaubert, and Reynaldo Hahn. Classical. CD. Naxos #LM202. Published by Naxos (NX.LM202).

UPC: 738759925014.

At the turn of the 20th century, Paris was a hotbed of musical change. Rather than fostering the emergence of a distinctly French sound, however, the city's most creative spirits sought to purge the influence of Germanic artistic ideals. Following a defeat in the Franco-German war, the French vowed to distance themselves from Germany's lofty Wagnerian shadow and to promote homegrown talents with unprecedented fervor. The composers featured on this release- Bonis, Hahn, Gaubert, Debussy, Poulenc, and Durufle- are the result of this push. Trio Arkaede is a powerful classical chamber ensemble consisting of Karin Aurell, flute, Julien LeBlanc, piano, and Isabelle Fournier, violin and viola. This rare combination of instruments offers a sound that is bright, playful, charming and sweet. In a recent review, Montreal's La Scena Musicale praised the impressive selection of repertoire on Tour de France, ranging from popular sonatas by Debussy to lesser-known works, and called the ensemble "three of Atlantic Canada's best chamber musicians" and was recently named "Pick of the Week" by the Halifax Chronicle Herald.