Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Franz Josef Haydn, Piano Trio No. 43 in C major for violin, cello and piano, Hob XV:27:  Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer who epitomizes the Classical era of classical music.  He was prolific, composing 104 symphonies, as well as hundreds of works of chamber music, choral music and piano music.  He was a good friend of the younger Mozart; each of them regarded the other with esteem.  He was also a teacher of Beethoven and he regarded the young Beethoven highly, although Beethoven did not always reciprocate that goodwill.  Haydn wrote 45 trios for piano, violin and cello, 43 of which survive.  One scholar has called Haydn’s late piano trios (including the C major trio that Brightmusic will perform) “along with the Mozart concertos, the most brilliant piano works before Beethoven.”  Haydn wrote the C major trio in 1794-95 for one of Clementi’s virtuosic pupils and published it in 1797.  It features three movements: Allegro in classic sonata form; Andante containing radiant harmonies in A major; and Presto full of pure joie de vivre.   

Eric Ewazen, Trio for trumpet, violin and piano:  Eric Ewazen is a living American composer, born in 1954, who received his B.M. at the Eastman School of Music and his M.M. and D.M.A. degrees at The Julliard School, where he has been a faculty member since 1980.  His numerous works for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras have been performed around the world.  The website ArkivMusic.com lists 57 different CDs on which Dr. Ewazen’s compositions appear.  He composed his Trio for Trumpet, Violin and Piano in 1992.  It has been recorded twice, once on Albany Records and once on Cala Records.  For more information about Eric Ewazen, see www.ericewazen.com.

Antonín Dvořák, Trio No. 4 in E minor, op. 90 (the “Dumky” Trio):  Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a 19^th Century Romantic and Czech nationalist composer.  Although he is best known for his symphonies and his cello concerto, he displayed considerable skill in writing for chamber ensemble.  The “Dumky” Trio, composed in 1890-91, is one of Dvořák’s most famous chamber music works.  Its nickname is the plural of dumka, a Ukrainian lament; and dumka is a diminutive of duma, a Ukrainian epic or ballad.  Dvořák combined various elements of the dumka or duma and produced a work that alternates slow, melancholy sections with vigorous Slavic folk dances.  This trio features six dumky, each in a different key.