<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-html40-19980424/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>Program Notes -- Vienna Piano Trio</title> <!-- Edit this! --> <meta name="author" content="Paul K. 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During this period Mozart was at the height of his powers. In 1785 he had completed his six string quartets, dedicated to Haydn, and <i>The Marriage of Figaro</i> had received its première in Vienna in 1786 to considerable acclaim. Mozart used the summer months of 1788 to create the last three symphonies, the Piano Sonata K.545, the last violin sonata, the Piano Trios in E and C Major, the Divertimento K. 563 for string trio, and finally the Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564, the last work Mozart wrote in the genre.</p> <p>The basic structure for the piano trios is that which Mozart inherited from Haydn. They are three movement works in which the piano dominates. The score was advertised by the publishers as being "for harpsichord or fortepiano with the accompaniment of a violin and violoncello". The G Major trio is simpler and shorter than the piano trios he wrote earlier that year. In the first movement, the piano introduces the first theme, but thereafter the three instruments pass on the leading voice to one another. The interplay between piano and strings is successful even if, as suspected, the string parts were later added to what was originally a piano sonata. The theme of the second movement, a sevenminute andante, is a simple melody in C Major in 3/8 time followed by a series of variations, and the movement ends in a short coda. The finale is a brief allegretto with an imaginative ending.</p> <table><tr><td width="400" align="right"><i><b>-- Bruce Stewart</b> </i></td></tr></table> <br> <b>SCHUMANN. <i>Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 63</i></b> <p>Schumann began the study of law at Leipzig University in 1828 at the age of 18, but almost immediately neglected his law studies and plunged into the musical and artistic life of Leipzig. In 1830 he cleverly abandoned the study of law and applied himself seriously to music. He became a student of Friedrich Wieck, his future father-in-law, and aspired to become a concert pianist. However, this ambition was thwarted when he developed an ailment in the index and middle fingers of his right hand, which was exacerbated by the use of a mechanical device to strengthen his fingers, putting an end to his budding career as a pianist. He married Clara Wieck in 1840, when she reached the age of 21. Clara Wieck Schumann became the concert pianist, and Robert, who had begun writing music as a child, turned to composition. Schumann retained an instinctive and idiomatic genius as a composer for the instrument, and his greatest music comprises his compositions involving the piano. Not surprisingly, the piano chamber works are clearly pianodriven, with the strings either following the keyboard part or acting in opposition to it as a unified block. He composed three trios for violin, cello and piano: in D Minor, Op. 63; in F Major, Op. 80 (both from 1847); and in G Minor, Op. 110 (1851). The first of these, in D Minor, is generally regarded as the most compelling work of the three. It makes significant demands upon the performers, not only in technique, but also in blending the parts into a cohesive whole. The tempo markings in the four movements are indicated by phrases that say more about emotional tone than tempo, the first movement to be played  Mit Energie und Leidenschaft (With Energy and Passion) and the fourth to be played  Mit Feuer (With Fire)  not even close to a metronome marking, but you will find that the Vienna Piano Trio, whom we have heard before, knows exactly the correct tempi.</p> <table><tr><td width="400" align="right"><i>-- Bruce Stewart </i></td></tr></table> <br> <b>BRAHMS. <i>Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 101</i></b> <p>Opus 101 is one of the most powerful and concise of the chamber works by Brahms. In the <i>Allegro energico</i> he used a single motive, dominating the entire movement. The scholar Donald Tovey states of the pizzicato notes in the cello part: "There is not one composer in a hundred & who could be trusted not to make chords of them instead of single notes." Thus Brahms shows his ability as a "great colorist."</p> <p>After the <i>Presto non assai,</i> a dance-like fantasy, the <i>Andante grazioso</i> (third movement) is tender and charming, taking an ABA form. It has a complex rhythmic pattern of seven beats, divided 3,2,2. Later in this movement Brahms doubles that pattern: 3,3,2,2,2,2. The C Minor Trio ends with an Allegro molto filled with much mirth, compared to the rather grim first movement. Brahms ends the piece with fury, almost beyond the capacity one would believe three instruments could achieve. Brahms knows exactly what he means and has learned to say it with incomparable succinctness. Ernest Markham Lee states: "Nowhere do we find him exhibiting more power or more consistently high level" workmanship in a chamber piece.</p> <p>As the last of his three works for this combination of instruments, the Trio in C Minor was composed on a summer working-holiday to Lake Thun, Switzerland, in 1886. With a view to the lake and a glacier beyond, Brahms also composed the Cello Sonata #2, the Violin Sonata #2, and fifteen solo songs, later to be numbered in Opera 96, 97, and 105. Trio # 3 was first performed in Budapest, the composer as pianist, with Clara Schumann turning the manuscript pages for him and was published the following year.</p> <table><tr><td width="400" align="right"><i>-- Sidney B. Smith </i></td></tr></table> <!-- End of stuff specific to this page. --> </td> <td width="60"> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>