Beethoven’s C minor Trio is such a perfect gem, it’s hard to believe it’s his Opus 1 and it’s the ideal springboard into the totally different world of heart-on-sleeve Slavic romanticism.
Dvorak’s famous “Dumky” trio features a passionately lamenting cello – dumky being the plural of dumka, an epic ballad or song of lament.
Less familiar, but a powerful work of unbridled passion, Smetana’s early trio is dedicated to his eldest daughter who had just died aged four from scarlet fever.
He was a generation older than Dvorak and his rhapsodic trio of clearly elegiac character is a milestone of romanticism, in a way forecasting the music that would soon come from Brahms, Dvorak and others.
Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Bedrich Smetana – Piano Trio in G minor Op. 15
Interval
Antonin Dvořák – Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor Op. 90 “Dumky”
