Music Chamber

Eagle Trio – Aleksandra Myslek (piano) Kanako Yanagida (violin) Peiyao Guo (cello)

 

 

Piano Trio no 2 in E minor Op  67  - Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Andante ~ Allegro con brio ~  Largo ~ Allegretto

 

Composed in 1944, along with the second string quartet and just one year after the eighth symphony, the piano trio was dedicated to the composer’s friend, the music scholar Sollertinsky, but like all the works of this period the theme is influenced by the brutality and futility of war. The first movement opens with a short lyrical introduction. The main theme which follows emerges from this, and suggests a folk-song influence. The whole movement has a poetic calm, and may be thought of as an elegy. The second movement, in contrast, is a scherzo of impetuous energy. The slow movement is a chaconne, built on the repetition of eight chords on the piano around which the violin and cello unfolds a mournful dialogue, drawing parallels with the passacaglia of the eighth symphony. Then directly – attacca – the finale plunges into its angular and menacing theme. The driving rhythms create a form of awe-inspiring dance music, but the march is relentless, and no ray of light pierces the tragic gloom of the conclusion. At the height of the movement the folk-like theme of the first movement is recalled, as are also the eight funeral chords of the chaconne.

© Christine Talbot-Cooper

 

Piano Trio no 2 in C minor Op 66 – Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)

Allegro energico e con fuoco ~ Andante espressivo ~ Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto ~ Finale: Allegro appassionato

 

The second of Mendelssohns’s piano trios was composed in 1845, two years before his death and was dedicated to Louis Spohr. As with the first trio, this work is in four movements, with a song-like slow second movement and a characteristic scherzo as a third movement. Both trios show off Mendelssohn’s gifts of melodic invention, craftsmanship and structural clarity. The opening movement in an expansive sonata form has a first theme, often set against rapid accompaniment figures and heard in various disguises including diminution and augmentation, which contrasts with the lyrical second subject in E flat major. The movement builds to a climax where the theme is played by the strings in augmentation against the original theme which is heard on the piano. A gentler second movement begins with a recurring falling figure, introduced by the piano, and contains in its central section some beautiful modulations. By contrast, the third movement is a sparkling scherzo in G minor which ventures into G major for the trio section, with the busy semiquavers and fugal writing all vanishing into thin air in an ending which brings to mind the scherzo of the String Octet which Mendelssohn wrote twenty years earlier. As with his earlier piano trio, Mendelssohn uses rondo form for the final movement, but it is a rondo with three principal themes, the third of which, a chorale-like melody, is used to great effect at the climax of the work. At this point the music moves to C major and the writing for the three instruments takes on almost orchestral proportions in the powerful coda.

© Christine Talbot-Cooper

 

Aleksandra Myslek  was born in 1992 in Warsaw and  began playing the piano at the age of six.  Among others, she received two special prizes for the best performance of Chopin works in the Chopin Competition in Sochaczew- Poland (2001, 2006), 2nd prize in the International Schumann Piano Competition in Suwalki Poland (2007) and 1st prize and special prizes in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Budapest (2008). In 2008 she was awarded the Artistic Scholarship of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage,  also becoming a ward of the National Fund for Talented Children. Aleksandra performed, among others at then Chopin Society in Warsaw, the Porczynscy Gallery, the F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2008, invited by Ecole Normale de Musique, Aleksandra played in Paris (prestigious Concours International de Piano), and in 2009 she gave three recitals in Hungary, in Budapest, Szeged and Debrecen. In March 2009 she made her debut in the W. Lutoslawski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio. In 2010 she was invited to take part in many concerts on the occasion of the Chopin Year. Aleksandra has participated in many masterclasses and in September 2010 became a student of the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded the Sidney Kenneth Brindle Award and studies with Christopher Elton.

 

Kanako Yanagida was born in Tokyo in 1990 where she studied at the High School attached to the Tokyo University of Arts, Music Faculty and is currently on the first year of her undergraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music. She won the first prize in the Elementary School Section of 55th All Japan Student Music Competition Tokyo Division in 2001 and performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra several times in 2002. She was again awarded the 2nd Prize in Junior High School Section of the 58th All Japan Student Music Competition Tokyo Division in 2004 and took part in the London Masterclass in 2008 and 2009 studying with Gyorgy Pauk, and with Konstanty Kulka at the Chopin Academy Masterclass where she performed at selective concerts. In 2009, she was a finalist in the 79th All Japan Music Competition and  performed with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. She was awarded the Fukushima prize of by the Tokyo University of Arts in 2010. She has studied the violin with Yukiko Ogawa, Takako Yamazaki, Gerard Poulet, Oleh Krysa, Kazuki Sawa, and is currently studying with Gyorgy Pauk.

 

Peiyao Guo started his cello education at the aged of 6, having studied with professor Jiwu Li, principal of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, entering the Music School attached to Xinghai Conservatory of Music in 2004. He has attended several international art festivals where he has worked with Lynn Harrell, Carlos Prieto, Andre Diaz, Carter Enyeart, Hans Jorgen Jensen and other great artists. In 2008 he was invited to take part in Morningside Music Bridge in Canada and in 2009 and 2010, he represented the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, performing at Xinghai concert hall. In 2009 he won the first prize in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan Cello Competition, and performed as the winner several times. Also in 2010, he gave a recital in Guangzhou and was awarded a full scholarship for studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.