Tailleferre's Foundry

[Roy Bland]

[kyjo]

Recently, I had the great pleasure of performing Mme. Tailleferre's delightful Piano Trio, which she wrote in 1917 but revised way at the end of her life in 1978. Typically for her, it's a very succinct work in 4 movements lasting 14-15 minutes total. The first movement is delicate and flowing, with echoes of Ravel and late Faure. The second is a gavotte-like dance with an irresistibly catchy main theme, and the middle section features some notably "crunchy" harmonies that she may have added upon revision. But the highlight of the work IMO is the movingly tender slow movement, which has an innocent, lullaby-like main theme colored by some poignant harmonies. And finally, the energetic finale wraps the work up with good humor and sparkling virtuosity - the ending is quite witty in typical French fashion. I noticed some predictions of Poulenc's style throughout the work, which makes sense since they were both members of Les Six.

https://youtu.be/7mkkJSNbl8k?si=PF562IC2G448MQDA

I can only hope that with the general resurgence of interest in female composers lately, that Tailleferre's diverse and promising output will receieve more representation on disc (and in concert). There are still quite a few compositions of hers that are lacking in satisfactory - or any - recordings.