It is often thought that the recorder is little other than a starter instrument for the flute or clarinet, even though the wealth of material written for it during the Baroque period should guarantee its survival as a concert instrument in its own right. The Trio Basiliensis is one group that ensures its continued place on the concert platform.

The recorder, particularly the Baroque instrument, has surprisingly little original repertoire considering its popularity, so an ensemble that has given concerts and recorded for a good twenty years with the solo recorder as its focal point is a subject of interest. When coupled with the fact that its members do not even live in the same country, the factors that hold the ensemble together are definitely worthy of examination.

	Marianne Mezger

Trio Basiliensis takes its name from the city where it came into being, namely Basel in Switzerland. The recorder player and central figure in the ensemble is Marianne Mezger who was born and educated in this city and, almost inevitably one might think, was taught the recorder at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the first institution devoted exclusively to the historically informed performance of early music. Ironically, Marianne was on course to becoming a cellist, when, as a teenager, an accident damaged her left hand, making a radical rethink necessary. She returned to the recorder, which she had always loved as a child, and began lessons under Hans-Martin Linde.

In the early 1970s, Holland and Belgium were very much alternative Meccas for budding early music instrumentalists, and Marianne moved to Antwerp where she studied with Paul van Nevel and Paul Dombrecht. She was immensely fortunate in that she was one of very few recorder students accepted by Barthold Kuijken. Marianne acknowledges the debt she owes to Kuijken as a teacher - his approach and ideas were decisive in forming the path she was to take in future years. In particular, the minute examination of historical sources and the absolute attention to control in sound production are hallmarks of her performances to this day, and aspects which she has in turn passed on to generations of her own students.