Trio "en vogue"

The trio "en vogue" with Roberto Cuervo, oboe, Franco Mettler, clarinet and Gion-Andrea Casanova, bassoon, together with accordionist Thomas Weber and the wonderful singer Astrid Alexandre form "gourmandises francaises"! The three basses play compositions from the 1920s. In between, accordionist Thomas Weber plays musettes, as they were played at the small dances, the so-called "bal musette". And Astrid Alexandre sings "chansons" in unconventional arrangements by Eric Satie, Francis Poulenc, Charles Trenet and others.

In the 1920s, musical Paris was undergoing a kind of "cultural revolution". People wanted to move away from the impressionism of Debussy, but also from Wagner, towards a new, concrete, clear music. But it wasn't just composers who were on the lookout; musicians and instrument makers were also inventing new instruments and trying to improve existing ones. In terms of flexibility and virtuosity, woodwind instruments moved closer to string instruments and the piano. It is therefore not surprising that around 1920, when the young composers took up the new instruments to write new music, a large number of French works were written for the "Trio d'anches". "Trio d'anches" is the French term for a reed trio and usually stands for oboe, clarinet and bassoon and was long regarded as a "typically French" instrumentation. During this time, many people from Auvergne, a poor and mountainous region in the heart of the French Massif Central, emigrated to Paris. The popular musical instrument there was the musette, a small bagpipe or bagpipes, which was used to play Auvergne music. Small dance events, the so-called "bal musette", emerged, which were very popular with the Parisians. At the beginning of the new century, Italian workers also came to the city and mingled with the Auvergne dance scene with their small diatonic accordions, which was not always entirely peaceful. However, it was not long before the bagpipe was completely supplanted by the accordion and the diatonic accordion was replaced by the larger, chromatic button accordion - the key stylistic elements of the musette waltz were born.

The French term chanson was originally a collective term similar to the German "Lied" for songs of various kinds, encompassing both the art song of the Middle Ages and the folk song in its historical form. In the 20th century, the chanson, usually with a high literary standard, was to become typical of French popular culture. Charles Trenet coined a style of interpretation based on the performer's personal charisma, which has been part of the chanson ever since. Alongside him, it was above all Edith Piaf and Raymond Asso who helped the chanson to make its breakthrough with this style of interpretation.

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