Trio

Description

Cello, Violin, Piano — Many of my favorite works for piano trio are, in effect, duos in which the two strings together balance the piano.xa0In the interest of formal and æsthetic balance, I took a somewhat similar approach. I also decided to exploit the difference in the essence of strings and keyboard, allowing some musical material to arise from the nature of the piano and some to be generated by the nature of string instruments.xa0 Most often the material is then taken up and re-interpreted by the other family; sometimes the musical material is not exchanged, but forms the basis for a dialogue with the other.xa0 Ultimately, however, the piano violin and cello are partners, three equal voices of exploration.My ideal performers possess the kind of virtuosity that combines exhilarating athleticism with real musical values and feeling.xa0 Perhaps it was in eager anticipation of just that kind of performance that this Trio was written in something of a “white heat” — very quickly, for me — and I feel it to be a particularly immediate and personal statement.