Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat Major, op. 1., no. 1 (piano, violin cello):  Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote this work, one of his earliest published compositions, in 1794-95.  Some think that he began composing it in Bonn, before he moved to Vienna in 1792 to study with Haydn.  Once in Vienna, Beethoven began to earnestly pursue his career as a pianist and composer.  Although he was not initially recognized as a genius composer, his virtuosic skills as a pianist were immediately recognized.  The publication of the three piano trios of opus 1 (the first of 12 that Beethoven would write) was part of his career-building strategy.  These trios depart from the traditional Haydn-Mozart format, not only because they feature four movements rather than three, but also because they give a more equal role to all three instruments.  These trios were first performed in 1795 at the home of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, Beethoven’s early patron, to whom he dedicated the trios.  In attendance at the premiere was Beethoven’s sometimes teacher, Franz Josef Haydn.  According to a later Beethoven student, Haydn “said many pretty things about” Trio No. 1 and Trio No. 2 (which Brightmusic performed in January 2011).  Haydn expressed reservations about Trio No. 3 because he thought it wouldn’t find public understanding or approval.  That comment did not sit well with the impetuous young Beethoven, who already realized his musical genius, and knew he would use it to change the course of music history.

Reynaldo Hahn, Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor (piano, two violins, viola and cello):  Hahn (1875-1947) was the 12^th child born to an affluent family living in Venezuela.  At age 3 he moved to Paris and ultimately became a French citizen.  His father’s was German-Jewish, while his mother’s was Spanish-Basque.  He entered the Paris Conservatory at age 10, where he studied with Massenet, Gounod and Saint-Saëns.  A fine singer, he gained recognition singing and playing in concert halls and salons.  At age 19, he met the 22-year-old aspiring writer, Marcel Proust.  They were artistic collaborators, fellow travelers and lovers for two years.  Thereafter, they remained constant friends until Proust’s death in 1922.  (Proust once said, “Everything I have ever done has always been thanks to Reynaldo.”)  Hahn was the epitome of  La Belle Époque, best known as a composer of vocal works – art songs, operas and operettas.  After serving in World War I, his career expanded.  He wrote piano music, concertos for piano and violin, and lyrical chamber music.  He was the music critic for Le Figaro and conducted the Salzburg Festival and the Cannes Casino Opera.  When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, Hahn was forced to leave Paris because of his Jewish ancestry.  He returned in 1945 and served as director of the Paris Opera for two years until his death.  Hahn composed his piano quintet in 1921.  It premiered in Paris the following year.  It is a beautiful, melodious work, “with its musical colouring often evocative of Fauré, its full harmonies and its ingratiating melodic motifs.  This piece prolongs the Belle Époque, nourished by classicism” [Benoît Duteurtre]. 

Johannes Brahms, Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, op. 101 (piano, violin and cello):  Brahms (1833-1897) wrote three numbered piano trios, all masterpieces.  He composed Trio No. 3 in Thun, Switzerland in 1886 at the age of 53.  It had been four years since his last piano trio (Brightmusic performed Piano Trio No. 2 at our Bach & Brahms Festival in May), and he had finished his Fourth Symphony the year before.  By this time, Brahms seemed to relax a bit.  Although his late chamber music was still of almost orchestral depth, “his style became ever more gentle and reflective” [Schonberg].  Two things distinguish Trio No. 3.  First, it is the shortest and most compact of Brahms’ piano trios.  “Even though it has much to say, it is, by Brahmsian standards, positively taut and pithy” [Michael Morrison].  Second, it assigns solo passages to the violin and cello, as well as the piano.  Mr. Morrison used the following adjectives to describe the four movements of this work:  Movement I – “intense;” Movement II – “delicate;” Movement III – “lyrical;” and Movement IV – “insistent.”  Trio No. 3 is a work of true chamber music, not “a symphony masquerading as a chamber work” [Morrison].  One year after completing this trio, Brahms completed his final work for orchestra – the Double Concerto in A Minor for violin, cello and orchestra, which bore opus number 102.