Presents
Joseph Jongen
String Trio in G Major, Op.135 No.1
Joseph Jongen (1873-1953), on the strength of an amazing precocity for music, entered the Liege Conservatory (in Belgium) at the extraordinarily young age of seven where he spent the next sixteen years. The admission board was not disappointed. Jongen won a First Prize for Fugue in 1891, an honors diploma in piano the next year and another for organ in 1896 . In 1897, he won the prestigious Grande Prix de Rome which allowed him to travel to Italy, Germany and France. He began composing at the age of 13 and immediately exhibited extraordinary talent. By the time he published his opus one, he already had dozens of works to his credit.
His String Trio in G Major was composed toward the end of his life in 1948 when he was 75 years old. Though modern sounding, it is a tonal work and starts off recalling the music of the Baroque, in particular Bach. However, this is just the starting point from which Jongen takes us on a kind of musical tour of past styles with a considerable infusion of French Impressionism and neo classicism. It is in four movements. The first movement is marked Allegro ma non troppo. There are no markings of the middle two movements and the last movement is simply marked Decide. Our soundbite presents the first movement, Allegro ma non troppo.
This masterly work should be of interest to both professionals and experienced amateur players.
Parts: $19.95
Parts & Score: $28.95
