Franz Schubert, String Trio No. 1 in B flat Major, D581 The four movements of the Trio, D. 581 (1817), which is scored for the usual trio ensemble of violin ,viola, and cello, are all of rather moderate tempo, as follows: Allegro moderato--Andante--Allegretto (Minuet and Trio)--Allegretto (Rondo finale). It is perhaps in the opening movement that we hear Schubert's unmistakable voice most clearly, for while on the surface this very brief sonata-allegro form movement would seem to have little in common with the expansive kind of sonata movements Schubert would come to compose a little later on, the chromatic twists of both counterpoint (passing tones, etc.) and harmonic motion in the development section (the sudden move to G flat major and then F sharp minor) and the rich ornamental figuration throughout the movement (such as the little sixteenth-note violin arabesque the first pops up at the end of the second bar) all act as perfectly legible signatures. The opening theme is as flexible a melody as one can imagine, its rhythms frequently changing and its range of motion being all but unrestricted. It might be argued that this tiny movement has no second theme at all, for, although Schubert does move to the dominant and proceed for ten-and-a-half bars, the melody used here seems just a new spin on the ideas of the first theme, and the impression is as much a coda as a new thought. ... The following Andante (F major, 6/8 meter) is both graceful and humorous, though a little cloud rises up as Schubert moves briefly through a lugubrious F minor during the middle portion of the movement. The violin provides an ornamented version of the opening tune at the end of the movement. During the trio section of the Minuet, the viola is allowed to take center stage for a while, but as we move into the final Rondo, the violin once again asserts itself as the real leader. Here all is in good fun, and one senses that even the dramatic forte-pianos, bravura triplets, and, as we move towards the end of the movement, mysterious pianissimo sixteenth notes are to be taken more-or-less as musical tongue-in-cheek. ~ Blair Johnston, All Music Guide Franz Schubert, String Trio No. 1 in B flat Major, D471 D. 471, scored for the usual string trio ensemble of violin, viola, and cello, is in effect a single-movement composition, as the unfinished second movement can really be performed only as a novelty item. The sole complete movement is an example of Classical sonata-allegro form, marked Allegro by the composer. The opening theme is given by the violin without introduction of any kind, to an accompaniment of oscillating eighth notes in the viola and a long-held B flat in the cello that soon enough breaks off to imitate a more articulated idea played by the violin in the second bar of the theme. After repeating this four-bar, pianissimo thought, Schubert moves on to offer up some light-hearted triplets in the violin and a rich twelve-bar transition, built around a B flat pedal-point in the viola part, to the second theme. In this second theme area (in F major) Schubert finds room for both some happy, spiccato mini-cadences and some brilliant, forte descending scales in octaves. The coda to the exposition is in three sections (the last of which is really a codetta to the coda), the sum total of which take up just as much time as the entire exposition-proper did. Development is simple and straightforward in D. 471: most of the fifty-four-bar development section is spent making one or another use of the melodic gesture by which Schubert closed the final bar of the exposition (the main themes don't really appear at all, save the first theme in vague rhythmic outline and the second in one fleeting reference). All is as a Classicist would expect it to be in the recapitulation. The opening theme reappears unchanged, the second idea is recast to suit the tonic key, and the same alternation of tonic harmony with a pseudo-Neapolitan chord (as outlined by a quarter-note arpeggiation in the cello, to which the violin and viola add the piquant idea of an augmented sixth) that closed the exposition is reused to bring the entire movement to a colorful final cadence. ~ Blair Johnston, All Music Guide Frédéric Chopin ( arr. Nathan Milstein) Nocturne in C sharp Minor, op. posth. Nathan Milstein (1904 - 1992) was a virtuoso violinist born in Russia. He is widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, well known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works, and for works from the Romantic period. He was also known for his long career: he performed at a high level of excellence in public into his mid-80s, being forced to retire after suffering a broken hand. Milstein transcribed Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor for use as an encore piece. Judy Kang Nocturne No. 20, Op. Posth. in C-sharp minor was composed by Frédéric Chopin in the year 1830 for solo piano and dedicated to his older sister, Ludwika Chopin. It was first published 26 years after the composer's death. The composition is marked Lento con gran espressione as the principal tempo and is written in common time. It begins with a mellow introduction and the main theme starts from bar 5 while the left hand ceaselessly plays quavers in arpeggios throughout the duration of the piece in portamento slurs, thus imparting a peaceful and continuous quality to the music. The theme then shifts to a dreamy pianissimo in bar 21 and finally returns to the original theme in bar 47 and concludes in C-sharp major. The themes from the middle section resemble themes from Chopin's second piano concerto in F minor which was composed around the same time (1830). The Nocturne is featured in the Roman Polanski film The Pianist. It is played twice (both incomplete) in the film by the protagonist Adrien Brody as Wladyslaw Szpilman, both times at the recording studio at Warsaw Radio at the beginning and the end of the film. Wikipedia Joseph Haydn, Piano Trio in D minor, Hob. XV:23 Franz Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was an Austrian composer. He was one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these genres. He was also instrumental in the development of the piano trio and in the evolution of sonata form. Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterházy family on their remote estate. Much of the music was written to please and delight a prince, and its emotional tone is correspondingly upbeat.This tone also reflects, perhaps, Haydn's fundamentally healthy and well-balanced personality. Occasional minor-key works, often deadly serious in character, form striking exceptions to the general rule. Haydn's fast movements tend to be rhythmically propulsive and often impart a great sense of energy, especially in the finales. Some characteristic examples of Haydn's "rollicking" finale type are found in the "London" symphony No. 104, the string quartet Op. 50 No. 1, and the piano trio Hob XV: 27. Haydn's early slow movements are usually not too slow in tempo, relaxed, and reflective. Later on, the emotional range of the slow movements increases, notably in the deeply felt slow movements of the quartets Op. 76 Nos. 3 and 5, symphony No. 102, and piano trio Hob XV: 23. The minuets tend to have a strong downbeat and a clearly popular character. As early as Op. 33 (1781) Haydn turned some of his minuets into "scherzi" which are much faster, at one beat to the bar. Wikipedia Gustav Mahler, Piano Quartet in A Minor Mahler began studying at the Vienna Conservatory as a 15 year old during the1875-76 academic year, and remained there for three years while still enrolled as a high-school student at the Iglau Gymnasium. He distinguished himself as a pianist at the Conservatory, and was clearly being groomed for a career as a concert performer, but the young Mahler soon turned to composition as his primary subject, taking classes in harmony from Robert Fuchs and counterpoint with Franz Krenn. Mahler was also a devotee of Bruckner’s music, and attended Bruckner’s university lectures in Vienna without ever formally becoming a pupil. He was enamored with Wagner’s music, andwas also a friend of Hugo Wolf during his time at the Conservatory. Mahler’s first compositions, which date from these early student years at the Conservatory, are almost entirely chamber works. Most of them are lost, and there is some confusion about the nature of these lost works—many scholars believe, for example, that the lost Piano Quintet listed as Mahler’s graduation piece, and for which he was awarded a prize, is actually the Piano Quartet in A minor, entered wrongly in the Conservatory’s own records. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Mahler started many works during his student days, but finished few of them, explaining to his friend and confidante at the Conservatory Natalie Bauer-Lechner, that he always found himself attracted to a newer style before finishing a work. As a student composition, indeed the first composition that appears in Mahler's works list, the Piano Quartet in A minor displays a certain tentative confidence. Tentativebecause there was still so much for the young composer to discover, and confidentbecause he had already assimilated an extraordinary amount of compositional technique during his first year of formal music instruction; he had come to the Conservatory essentially self-taught. The sonata structure of this one movement (sketches for a second movement Scherzo survive, but are incomplete) demonstrates a sympathetic knowledge not only of 19th-century form and compositional style, but also the techniques of the great piano masters: Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms.While the key of A minor would later symbolize for Mahler the “unconsciousanticipation of things to come” (it is, for example, the key of his dramatic and sentimental Sixth Symphony), it seems to have no obvious symbolic or referential significance in this work. The opening of the piece introduces a Brahms-like main theme of careful balance and lyricism. Mahler introduces a change of tempo for the second key area—one of theseveral unusual elements that mark this work as more than merely a competent student exercise. The development section demonstrates his disciplined skill in motivic development. As the change of tempo returns in the recapitulation, Mahler pairs it with an unexpected harmonic excursion to the remote key of F-sharp minor, and before themelancholy conclusion he includes a mini-cadenza for violin. Devices such as theseenliven the conventional formal plan. This Quartet remained unpublished until 1964, but it has since been recorded several times. It has also directly inspired two compositions by Alfred Schnittke: thesecond movement of Schnittke’s Concerto grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 3 (1985), and hisPiano Quartet [after sketches by Mahler] (1989). —Program note commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra; copyright 2002 Luke Howard