Back at Marlboro

We are back at Marlboro for rehearsals. We have been listening to the Mozart Horn Quintet in E-flat Major, K. 407. It is lovely.  Earlier, before lunch, we heard once again the Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Opus 44. I could listen to that over and over, it is so beautiful. During the 2-hour lunch break we went back into Brattleboro, I dropped Ellen off at the Farmer's Market, went to the drug store to pick up a prescription, came back for Ellen, and we ate our lunch in the car back at Marlboro. There is another little break now and at 4pm we will hear the Dvorak Piano Trio which we heard fragments of Thursday. This is a kind of heaven.

Horn player, Yevhen Churikov, talking with violinist, Mari Lee, after the Mozart Horn Quintet

Musicians in the Dvorak Trio: Abigail Fayette, violin; Jonathan Biss, piano and Timotheus Petrin, cello

Here are someone's thoughts on the Dvorak Trio:

The Piano Trio in F minor could be regarded not only as one of the major achievements of Dvorak’s chamber music, but also as one of the most important works of its genre. Its strength lies in the unusual wealth of musical ideas and their resourceful development, in the assured structure of the individual movements and the formal integrity of the work as a whole, and in the concentration of sound whilst ensuring the right balance between the instruments. The opulence of sound, expression and form in this symphonically conceived work almost transcends the chamber music genre itself. In terms of its expression, this composition is exceptional in Dvorak’s oeuvre: instead of the warmth and spontaneous joy of life typical for Dvorak, the music here conveys dark and sombre thoughts, a sense of uncertainty, uneasiness and defiance. Taking into account these qualities, the work might be seen as the chamber counterpart to the composer’s Symphony No. 7 in D minor, which originated in the same period.   

Dvorak composed this Trio just few weeks after the death of his mother, which may help explain its "dark and sombre thoughts." It is also thought to have been inspired in part by Brahms: 

For its grave, philosophical tone, the Trio in F minor is often described as Dvorak’s “most Brahmsian” work. One could, in fact, consider a specific source of inspiration: Brahms’s Piano Quintet, Op. 34, from the year 1864. Its expression is very similar, it is written in the same key and has a similar choice of instruments and corresponding introduction – the instruments make their striking entry with the main theme in unison, without the use of harmony. Irrespective of possible sources of inspiration, Dvorak’s trio is a masterpiece formally rooted in the long-established traditions of European chamber music, but introducing fresh, wholly unconventional ideas.