Fidelio Trio - Dancing in Daylight

Dancing in Daylight is a release of Irish piano trios featuring the London-based Fidelio Trio. The album is available on the Métier label and includes first recordings of new trios by John Buckley, Fergus Johnston, Rhona Clarke and Seóirse Bodley.

The album was officially released on 11 March in London, and to mark the release CMC presents one of the tracks from the album - Rhona Clarke’s second piano trio, described in a review of the album on MusicWeb as, “ … a satisfying composition that balances romance, motor rhythms and neo-classicism.” Here’s the note about the piece from the booklet:

This work was written to be included in a programme dedicated to Clarke’s music for strings and piano, presented at the Hugh Lane, Dublin Municipal Gallery in 2001. The premiere was given by Gilliam Williams (vn), Arun Rao (vc) and Anthony Byrne, and subsequently it has been played by The Vienna Mozart and Fidelio trios. The piece has two contrasting movements. In the first of these, the violin and cello hold a rather romantic conversation over a barely-moving, chordal ostinato on the piano.

A fast, fugal second movement follows; the spare- textured, rhythmic style is influenced by Bartok, and contains a slower, reflective section about three quarters through, echoing elements of the first movement.

The other three works on the disc by Bodley, Buckley and Johnston were commissioned by the Fidelio Trio as part of their recent residency at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University. 

Dancing in Daylight will be available to purchase in CMC’s shop shortly. It is also available to download from iTunes and stream on Spotify.