Louis Spohr - Piano Trio No. 3 in A Minor Op. 124 (1842)

Piano Trio No. 3 by Louis Spohr. Performed by the Hartley Piano Trio.

I. Allegro Moderato - 00:00
II. Andante Con Variazioni - 9:41
III. Scherzo - 19:38
IV. Finale - Presto - 25:49

Spohr wrote in virtually every genre, not the least being chamber music. He composed some 36 string quartets, 7 string quintets, five piano trios, four double quartets and several other chamber pieces. His teaching assistant related that as the 1830's he bemoaned his lack of ability on the piano and said that he would gladly trade a year's salary to be able to play the piano well. Spohr was truly a great man of many skills (mountaineer, hiker, painter et. al.), and nothing if not determined. Sometime during the late 1830's he undertook a rigorous course of study of the instrument and by the 1840's had become a good, if not great, pianist. The main result of this was that he was able to compose chamber works with piano, such as his Piano Trio No.3, which were to have lasting value

Piano Trio No.3 was completed 1842 and published not long after. The dramatic opening of the Allegro moderato, begins with a theme of pathos. This is immediately followed by a highly romantic theme. In the second movement,Andante con variazione, Spohr chooses a fine folk ballad for his theme, which proves capable of withstanding the wide-ranging treatment it is given. The Scherzo which comes next is of the sort in which Spohr was a master. It might be called the flip-side of the Mendelssohnian scherzo with its elves and fairies. Spohr's scherzos are haunted and tend to feature ghosts and ogres. The constrasting trio is more ethereal. The finale, Presto, seems to take up where the Scherzo leaves and begins with a haunted "march of the goblins." Full of exciting and bizarre twists and turns, it provides an excellent conclusion to what is one of Spohr's very best chamber works.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Louis
• Spohr
• Piano
• Trio
• No
• 3
• in
• A
• Minor
• Op
• 124
• 1842