Without Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) the piano trio might well have remained the preserve of gifted amateurs and most often heard in private salons rather than in established concert venues. Early trios emphasised the piano part, but a series of works Haydn wrote in London during 1795, of which tonight’s work is one, saw a balancing of the musical responsibilities. The trio in G, often subtitled ‘Gypsy Rondo’ because of its finale, is the best known of Haydn’s output. It is interesting in that whilst it is cast in the standard three movements, none quite conforms to expectations. The opening movement is not a sonata form fast movement, but an Andante that alternates and varies two different themes. The middle movement is slow, but musically owes much to the Adagio of his symphony no. 102, premiered in London on February 2, 1795, thereby showing Haydn’s desire to capitalise on local popularity with this work. The spirited finale reflects the fact that Esterházy and Eisenstadt, the courts where Haydn spent most of his life, are close to the Hungarian plain. Haydn was quite familiar with, and fond of, the folk music of the region. The theme is introduced immediately by the piano, and some excitement is generated in part by constant shifting between major and minor keys, before proceeding without pause to a dynamic close.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote the three opus 1 trios in 1792-4, the last of which is the most musically searching of the group and in a favoured key of C minor. It opens with a compact and dramatic theme, after which the piano lightens the mood. Both themes are expanded before a rather lyrical second subject is introduced and shared by all three instruments. The movement concludes with a waltz transformation of the opening theme which is succeeded by an intensely stormy exploration and a short coda. The second movement is built out of a simple theme, which quickly fixes itself in the memory, and five variations of increasing complexity. Beethoven, however, goes beyond elaborating and ornamenting the original melody. By subjecting it to a series of expressive transformations he exposes a wide range of moods and emotions inherent in the theme itself. After the innovations of the first two movements the rather traditional minuet can seem surprising. The descending scale which starts the movement, however, recalls the striking downward scale passages in the development of the opening movement. The finale owes much to the opening movement also in terms of structure: a commanding opening leads to a subsidiary melody of beguiling charm given first by the violin and then the piano. Calmness pervades the second subject also which seems to extend the ideas stated when the movement started. In a final sleight of hand Beethoven denies a conventionally strong ending to the piece in preference to allowing the music to disappear to a whisper.

George Enescu played violin in two Paris-based trios he formed in the early 1900s, most prominently with pianist Alfred Casella and cellist Louis Fournier. Compositionally, two movements of a piano trio in A minor were drafted during 1916 and fragmentary ideas for another work date from 1942. The manuscript for the Serenade lontaine, discovered in the archives of the Enescu Museum in Bucharest in 2004, predates both these incomplete works. Indications are that it was written during a concert tour to London in 1903 and was intended for performance at a celebration in honour of the Romanian King and Queen to be held here on 15 November of that year. Written in the key of E minor, it is a delightful single movement miniature of around five minutes’ duration that impresses through its tripartite structure, its beautiful instrumental lines and gentle atmosphere of serenity.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) completed his D minor trio in 1939. Unusually, during composition he took the advice of fellow composer Ferdinand Hiller to revise the piano part thus increasing its prominence and making the music more outwardly romantic in feel. Schumann reviewed the work as “the master trio of the age”. The sonata form first movement is a glorious outpouring of melody with two memorable themes full of ardour and nobility. The cello introduces both motifs; then accompanied by the other instruments, the piano favouring syncopated contributions. The themes are combined to highlight the natural classical tendency of Mendelssohn’s style. Finally, the violin’s telling contributions of countermelodies highlight the restatement of the original themes. The piano introduces the second movement in a manner similar to that of the composer’s Songs without Words. A prominent melody is carefully balanced with contributions from the strings before varying the tone and returning to an altered version of opening theme. The monothematic yet sparkling scherzo challenges in its need for delicate gracefulness through cleanliness of ensemble maintained at a swift tempo. The finale is an instrumental tour-de-force, particularly for the piano whose close chords, arpeggios and chromatic octaves most clearly display Hiller’s influence on the composition as a whole.

Evan Dickerson