1. Allegro moderato
2. Scherzo: Tempo di Menuetto
3. Andante
4. Allegretto

Clara Schumann composed her Piano Trio in G minor in 1846 at a time of considerable distress in the Schumann household: the Schumanns’ fourth child, Emil, was extremely sickly (he died the next year), and Robert’s mental health was giving cause for concern; and Clara herself suffered a miscarriage in the middle of composing the trio. It was written amidst all this personal and family turmoil between May and September 1846, mostly in Dresden but with some work on it during a much-needed break on Norderney, one of the East Frisian Islands. completing it a year before Robert’s first attempt at the form (he acknowledged its influence on his own work). The first movement is a passionately argued Allegro moderato in sonata form, opening with an ardent first subject on the violin, over a quiet but agitated piano accompaniment. The fluency and skill with which the musical argument is presented is unsurprising from such an experienced musician – Clara was one of the greatest pianists of the nineteenth century and one of the best educated – but what is truly remarkable is the originality and character of the musical ideas themselves, whether in the drama of the first movement, the elegant charm of the Scherzo–Minuet, the glorious song-like theme which dominates the Andante, or the Allegretto finale. This is another sonata form movement, but its development section also features a good deal of fugal writing. It is only in the last four bars that the music turns from G minor to G major – but there’s no easy sense of victory here, more – perhaps – a fleeting glimpse of happier times to come.