Concert in D Major

Ernest Chausson’s Concert for violin, piano and string quartet, composed between 1889 and 1891 for the great Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe, and performed for the first time the following year in Brussels to great acclaim, is a uniquely scored work. Conceived neither as a conventional concerto nor a fully fledged sextet for piano and strings, the work’s four movements dazzle with a kaleidoscopic variety of different instrumental textures (for example, piano solo, violin and piano duo, unaccompanied string quartet, as well as the complete ensemble) and a constant stream of passionate and sensuous melodies. Chausson ratchets up the tension in the outer movements with wildly fluctuating tempos and a sequence of increasingly intense climaxes, creating unity through the ingenious transformations of strongly defined ideas, not least the three-note pattern heard at the opening of the work. The perfumed harmonies of the wistful second movement “Sicilienne” provide a brief moment of reflection. But the ensuing slow movement “Grave” plumbs the depths of despair, undoubtedly reflecting the composer’s despondent state of mind as he struggled to complete this epic work.