Jürg Frey — String Trio

String Trio is nearing a fifty-minute composition for Volin, Viola, and Cello from Swiss composer Jürg Frey. It’s a work that resounds with both glum forlornness, fraught grey beauty, and foggy ambient glow ‘n’ glide- it perfectly fits the album's cover photo of a mountain scape barely seen through a thick foggy haze.

Frey realized the piece between the years 2017 and 2022. It was recorded in May of this year at Goldsmiths Recording Studios. The players here are Mira Benjamin- violin, Bridget Carey- Viola, and Anton Lukoszevieze- cello- who are members of the highly modern classical ensemble Apartment House.

The work runs at 47:19 mark. It opens in a decidedly glum and brooding manner- with a slowly slurred blend of plodding & constantly hovering bass, and mid-range saw and slow slice. For its first half or so it very much focuses on locking down into this grim & grey dirge with the occasional picking dart added to stead & slow dwelling pace- yes at points there are hints of rise/ bright harmonics, but these are fairly faint.

At a point the locked-in spell is broken- with a shift into the string patterns- at first, these are fairly minor, and we still remain in the glum pull & saw of the whole thing. But as we move towards the pieces last quarter slightly brighter & warming tones start to appear, and it feels things are turning for the better- though ever so often that feeling of grey pressing forbode is present.

String Trio is very much a work you have to live with- letting it get deep into your marrow, and with these replays/visits, you start to notice more of the subtly shifting tones- which moves us from glum & grey hoover to slightly more hopeful waters.