Miriam Licette (soprano)
The London String Trio:
Jean Pougnet (violin) ;
William Primrose (viola) ;
Anthony Pini (violoncello)
Jean Francaix belongs to the postwar generation of French composers. He was born at Le Mans in 1912, but later went to Paris, where he studied at the Conservatoire under Nadia Boulanger.
' Francaix's particular competence', writes Alan Frank , ' is revealed in the layout and balance of his works, which are planned and scored with meticulous care. The string trio is a medium fraught with dangers. The main difficulty is its bottom-heaviness, in that viola and cello overpower one fiddle. Francaix rather evades the issue by liberal use of double-stopping and by keeping the viola in its higher register.'