Boccherini Trio: Conversations À Trois

The Strad Issue: July 2026

Description: Franco-Belgian treats delight in an unusual programme

Musicians: Boccherini Trio

Works: Cras: String Trio. Debussy: Clair de lune (arr. Shardlow). Françaix: String Trio. Ysaÿe: String Trio ‘Le Chimay’

Catalogue number: BIS SACD2708

French turn of the 19th/20th century? A rediscovered Debussy or Franck trio, written during a previously undocumented Dvořák phase from the Middle East or Africa?

If these were the thoughts that were bouncing around your head on a blind hearing of the Boccherini Trio’s curtain-opening work to Conversations à Trois, you’d be along the right lines. This album is indeed dedicated to works composed in France and Belgium during the first half of the 20th century.

The musicians open with the four-movement trio written in 1926 by Breton-born Jean Cras (1879–1932) – whose decision aged 17 to join the French navy left him little time for composition, but gave him an abundance of non-European musical inspiration to draw on. The Boccherini Trio makes colourful work of its sparkling-textured writing too, from the organic handling of the first movement’s ever-shifting landscapes, via violinist Suyeon Kang’s floating, heat-hazy evocation of an Arabic flute call in the Lent to the finale’s folky dance.

Ysaÿe’s 1927 string trio ‘Le Chimay’, is compellingly handled – taut, but always feeling free. The Françaix (1933) comes polished with a fine sense of whimsy. This is one of those recordings that tells you from the off that you’re in safe hands. Great music, brilliantly performed. A thorough treat.

CHARLOTTE GARDNER