PIANO TRIO
vln, vcl, pno
Duration: 24:00
Date of Composition: 1999
PROGRAM NOTES:
It has often been said that the most difficult of ensembles to write for is the Piano Quintet (piano plus string quartet). If this is so, I would say that the Piano Trio (piano, violin, cello) is a close second. The problems are both technical and stylistic. Of all instruments, it may be argued that the piano, violin, and cello have the most evolved and complicated technique. This complicated technique, coupled with the virtuosic writing (one must write many notes) characteristic of the genre, poses a challenge to the composer. Stylistically, the piano trio is a staple of the 19th century: its warm sound made it a favorite of the Romantic period. The question is how to adapt this 19th-century sound to the late 20th century.
One deals with the technical problems through sheer hard work. The stylistic problem I solved by more or less giving in to it. Despite the moderated contemporary idiom I used, the piece is decidedly romantic, especially in the middle movement. The outer movements have a touch of classical style. But for the most part the violin and cello soar with melodies, the piano either adds harmony, quite often a third melody, or sometimes takes off on its own.
Formally all three movements consist of mostly continuous development, interspersed with a modified repetition of a theme. The slow introduction to the first movement is found, with slight variations, in the other two movements, unifying all three in their reference to one another.
The Trio was written during the summer and early autumn of 1999 in Hartford, Connecticut
James Sellars
10 November 1999
Hartford, Connecticut