Piano Trio Piano Quartet

TETZLAFF HORNUNG DORKEN HELMCHEN WEITHAAS POWELL

In 1876, Dvorak jotted down the Trio in G Minor, op. 26 in a mere 16 days. By that time, some of his masterpieces, including the Moravian Duets and the Stabat Mater, were starting to gain wider recognition- but the encounter with Brahms, which would stabilize him as an artist and clarify his musical tendencies, only took place the following year. Thus, many passages in this trio seem to be groping for direction: as Dvorak specialist John Clapham once remarked, they are still musically “insecure.” Still, certain traits in this trio already seem to reveal Dvorak’s profound affinity with Brahms on an instinctive level. Gradually emerging from a series of brief motifs, the first movement’s main theme is subjected to thematic treatment throughout. This movement is also the longest, lsating a total of twelve minutes. Its generally gloomy, somber mood does not yet reflect the true personal style of he who would soon write the Slavonic Dances. Notwithstanding, certain cello cantilenas in the slow movement and towards the end of the violent scherzo offer a foretaste of the great melodic gifts that Dvorak would soon reveal to the world.The Trio is coupled here with Joseph Suk’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, op. 1. A student of Dvorak, Suk’s piece shows a distinctly personal style almost completely separate from the style of his teacher.

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