Nikolay Tcherepnin and his son Alexander hail from a dynasty of distinguished composers spanning three generations. This first of two volumes focuses on their complete works featuring the violin and piano. Nikolay’s Cadence fantastique is longer and weightier than its title might suggest and drifts between dream and delirium. Alexander’s early Violin Sonata in C minor was recently discovered at the Paul Sacher Foundation archives in Basel and is heard in a new edition by Giorgio Koukl. The evocative Trio Concertante from 1960 is a piano trio arrangement of the Triple Concerto from 1930. Pianist Giorgio Koukl and the violinist Klaidi Sahatçi are joined by cellist Johann Sebastian Paetsch in the Piano Trio and Trio Concertante.

Giorgio Koukl is a Czech pianist/harpsichordist and composer. He studied at both the Conservatories of Zürich and Milan, where he took part in the masterclasses of Nikita Magaloff, Jacques Février, and Stanislaus Neuhaus, and with Rudolf Firkušný, friend and advocate of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. It was through Firkušný that Koukl first encountered Martinů‘s music, and is now considered one of the world’s leading interpreters of Martinů‘s piano music. As a logical continuation of this work, Koukl has recorded the complete solo piano works of Paul Le Flem, Alexander Tcherepnin, Arthur Lourié, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Witold Lutosławski, and more recently, Alexandre Tansman and Tibor Harsányi.

Violinist Klaidi Sahatçi is appreciated for his beautiful and rich sound, elegant and expressive playing and his experience as a concertmaster, recitalist, soloist, violin professor and chamber musician. Prior to becoming concertmaster of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in 2009, he served as violin solo of the National Orchestra of Lyon, and as concertmaster of the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and the Filarmonica della Scala. Sahatçi has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestre National de Lyon and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, among others. As a passionate chamber musician Sahatçi has played alongside artists such as Claire Désert, Bruno Giuranna, Bruno Canino, Roberto Prosseda, François-Frédéric Guy, Yuja Wang, and many others.

American cellist Johann Sebastian Paetsch’s extensive experience in chamber music began early in childhood, when he studied and performed with his family throughout the United States as The Paetsch Chamber Music Ensemble. Paetsch studied at Butler University, Yale University and the Musikhochschule Lübeck. He has participated in masterclasses with cellist such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, János Starker, Bernard Greenhouse and Mischa Maisky. A recipient of numerous awards, Paetsch was awarded a top prize in the Emanuel Feuermann competition and First Place in the Young Musicians Foundation Competition. Paetsch has collaborated with prominent artists such as Vadim Repin, Gidon Kremer and Jean-Bernard Pommier. He has been the first principal solo cellist of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana since 1992.