Brahms:
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in A minor, op. 114

Zuidam:
Arearea’ for clarinet, cello and piano

Zemlinsky:
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in D minor, op. 3

The trios by Brahms and Zemlinsky and Paul Gauguin’s painting Arearea all date from between 1890-1900, one of the most fascinating eras in European art, as it brought not only great scientific and industrial developments but also a tremendous growth of every kind of artistic style, and often as a reaction against the prevailing habits of the time. In the music of Brahms, Zemlinsky and their contemporaries of the so-called fin-de-siecle we hear long lines, compelling melodies, passion, and passages of high emotion that strive towards a cathartic climax. Boundaries were pushed even further in the late Romantic period, with a great need and desire for ‘new music’. Johannes Brahms is to late Romantic music what Eugene Delacroix was to Romantic painting, as both sought for maximum freedom within clearly set limits. Whilst Brahms remained within the framework of sonata form, the youthful Zemlinsky had already begun to demonstrate a more progressive style during the same period. The French painter Paul Gauguin had already broken with traditional forms, subjects and colours by then, as can be seen in his Arearea (1893); this painting was also to inspire a new work by the contemporary composer Robert Zuidam. The title of this CD, Color Soni, the colour of sound, refers not only to the role of colour in music but also to Paul Gauguin in several ways.