Music Chamber

Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813) Trio in E flat, Op 20/5

Allegro ~ Grazioso ~ Allegretto

 

Born in Nechanice, Bohemia, to a Czech peasant family, Vanhal received his early training from a local musician. From these humble beginnings he was able to earn a living as a village organist and choirmaster. The Countess Schaffgotsch, who heard him playing the violin, took him to Vienna in 1760, where she arranged lessons in composition with Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. Further patronage helped him to travel and gain further knowledge of music and by the age of 35, he was moving in exalted musical company: it is reported he played quartets with Haydn and Mozart. He was an extremely prolific composer whose symphonies have recently become more frequent in orchestral repertoire.

 

Aram Khatchaturian (1903-1978) Piano Trio

Andante Con Dolore ~ Allegro ~ Moderato

 

Like Glière’s quartet, the trio by Khachaturian is also a student work written while the composer was enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory. It was completed in 1932, the same year as Khachaturian’s well-known Toccata for piano, but well in advance of the ballets and concertos that gained him world renown. Nevertheless the work is fully characteristic of its composer’s distinctive, exotic style. The rhapsodic first movement has gypsy-like, improvisatory qualities. The main melody, given successively to the clarinet, violin, and piano, is offset by highly ornamented passagework and cadenzas. The material is not so much developed as continuously repeated, creating a colorful yet hypnotic atmosphere. The second movement begins as if a scherzo, with a descending scale motive reminiscent of Glière’s theme and variations, but soon a carefree folk tune enters on the clarinet and the tempo relaxes. The agitato section that follows combines the two ideas, and a presto cadenza leads to a triumphant, ornamented return of the folk melody. The movement concludes, scherzando, as it began. The finale is a set of variations on yet another folk-inspired tune, with a subsidiary rhythmic figure acting as a foil and gaining in importance as the movement progresses. Both share the spotlight at the climax, after which the music gradually winds down before dissipating into nothingness. (E. Entwhistle)

 

Charles Ives (1874-1954) Largo

 

Charles Ives, born in Danbury, Connecticut, was the son of George Ives, a U.S.Army bandleader in the American Civil War. Charles was taught to play the drum, cornet, piano, and violin by his father and played in his father’s band at the age of 12. At 13, he was composing simple marches and fiddle tunes. It was from his father that he learned the music of Stephen Foster. His father’s unique music lessons took an open-minded approach to musical theory, and Charles was encouraged to experiment in a musical unorthodoxy, which asserted his independence from the rigid musical life of 19th century New England.

 

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) Suite Op. 157b

Ouverture ~ Divertissement ~ Jeu ~ Introduction et final

 

Darius Milhaud was born in Aix-en-Provence into a wealthy Jewish family. At seven years old, he learned the violin and wrote his first musical composition. He entered the Paris Conservatory at 17 and became a student of Paul Dukas. In later life, Milhaud's career as a teacher alternated between the Paris conservatoire and the US at Mills College, Oakland, California. His pupils covered the spectrum of 20th-century music, including Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and Dave Brubeck. Darius Milhaud was incredibly prolific, his work saturated with the colour and warmth of his native Provence and an optimistic spirit, which, in later life, survived critical decades in which severe arthritis crippled and confined him to a wheelchair. He died aged 82 in Geneva. 

 

Hannah Yip, Joanna Klimaszewska and Max Mausen founded the Bartok Trio in September 2010. Passionate about performing unusual repertoire to the general public, they have already given numerous recitals in London and Kent. In May 2011 they travelled to Poland to give a series of recitals, including one at City Hall, Sopot.