STRING TRIOS: BEETHOVEN, SCHUBERT & MORE

Schubert’s String Trio in B flat major was composed in September 1816 and only its first movement survives complete (along with a fragment of a second). His only other venture into the medium of the string trio – a complete four-movement work this time – is in the same key and dates from exactly a year later. The earlier single-movement trio was written when the composer was nineteen years old, and this sunny and assured piece sounds almost like a tribute to Schubert’s great forebears Haydn and Mozart, and probably to Salieri too, with whom Schubert was studying at the time he wrote it. However, this substantial but charming sonata form movement is not an exercise in pastiche: there are several distinctive Schubertian harmonic touches, especially in the central development section.

Nigel Simeone © 2011

Marcia. Allegro
Romanza. Adagio non troppo
Scherzo. Vivace
Tema con variazioni. Andante con moto
Rondo. Finale

Dohnányi was one of three important composers to emerge from Hungary at the turn of the twentieth century. The other two – Bartók and Kodály – both developed highly individual musical voices, partly through their exploration and study of folk music. Dohnányi, a brilliant pianist as well as a gifted composer, chose a different path. He became an enthusiastic disciple of Brahms (who reciprocated by arranging the Viennese première of Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet Op.1) and subsequently evolved a characteristic late-Romantic harmonic language. The Serenade for String Trio was written in 1902. The choice of instruments was surprising: since Mozart and Beethoven the string trio had been neglected but Dohnányi writes for this ensemble most convincingly. His revival of the form may well have encouraged its rediscovery by composers such as Max Reger and Schoenberg. Dohnányi’s Serenade is in five movements, the first of which is a March. The Romance is lyrical and beautifully crafted for the three instruments, and is followed by a quicksilver Scherzo. In the Theme and Variations, Dohnányi makes sure that each of the three instruments has a fair share of the thematic material and he composes some very resourceful variations. The Finale of this inventive and attractive work is an exuberant Rondo.

Nigel Simeone © 2011

Huw Watkins was born in Pontypool in South Wales in 1976 and is a pianist and composer. He studied at Chetham’s School of Music, King’s College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. This String Trio was commissioned in 2015 for the Nash Ensemble and first performed at Wigmore Hall in March of that year.

1. Allegro von spirito
2. Adagio con espressione
3. Scherzo. Allegro molto e vivace
4. Finale. Presto

Beethoven’s three String Trios Op. 9 were finished by March 1798. The C minor trio is the most intense and closely argued of the three. The first movement opens with a hushed idea in octaves, soon followed by a more overtly melodic contrasting theme. Both are used in the terse development section and are heard again in the recapitulation before the movement ends with a stern affirmation of the home key of C minor. For the slow movement, Beethoven turns to C major, though the main theme soon takes a few unexpected harmonic turns, rather in the manner of Beethoven’s mentor Haydn. An early example of Beethoven’s ability to create seemingly endless melody with plenty of dramatic episodes, this movement ends with hushed chords. Back in C minor, the Scherzo is fast and angular, with only a charming major-key Trio section providing a moment of calm, though this uneasy movement ends quietly. The finale is notable for music that has a plain-speaking gruffness, and the whole work is notable for the imagination with which Beethoven writes for the three instruments at his disposal.

Nigel Simeone