Colorful and Romantic Trios

decemBER 9, 2024

CHIEN-KIM-WATKINS TRIO

Gloria Chien, piano

Soovin Kim, violin

Paul Watkins, cello

This powerhouse ensemble, comprised of three luminary chamber musicians of today, makes its Cincinnati debut at these concerts. The program features a trio by the quintessential romantic composer Schumann, a work that Ravel completed during the outbreak of World War I, and a tone poem by Liszt inspired by Orpheus, the legendary hero of Greek mythology.

This concert is approximately 1.75 hours, including intermission.

Program Notes

Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)/Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921)
Orpheus

Franz Liszt coined the term Symphonische Dichtung (Symphonic Poem) as a broad label for his orchestral compositions that followed no formal structure and included programmatic elements based on a story, idea, or extant text. The Symphonic Poem became one of the major compositional forms from the mid-19^th century well into the 20^th century. Along with Tasso, Prometheus, and Mazeppa, Orpheus is one of four symphonic poems Liszt composed as character sketches of mythological heroes known for their creative genius. Orpheus is the shortest and most understated of the set, and while it does not follow a specific narrative, Liszt published the work with a long, philosophical introduction. Here, Liszt is less concerned with the specifics of the legend of Orpheus rescuing Euridice from the underworld, and more focused on the philosophical notion of civilization overcoming barbarism through the power of art – “Despite teachings of the purest morality, the most sublime dogmas… despite the utmost refinement of civilization, Humanity preserves in its bosom those instincts of ferocity, brutality, and sensuality which it is the mission of art to soften, to calm.”

Musically, Liszt’s Orpheus is based on a single theme that transforms as it moves through the ensemble. This exchange creates a gradual crescendo throughout the work before finally returning to the mood of the opening measures for a quiet ending. For a programmatic work, Orpheus includes fairly limited conflict with the music instead favoring a contemplative mood  which, again, reflects Liszt’s ideals of the character rather than the mythological narrative.

Camille Saint-Saëns considered Orpheus his favorite of Liszt’s compositions, and described its evocative simplicity, saying “It is woven of sunbeams and starlight.” A gifted composer of Symphonic Poems in his own right, Saint-Saëns also produced many transcriptions of orchestral works to meet his needs as a concert artist and build a wider audience for works that he believed deserved greater exposure. Among these were the piano concertos of Mozart, the symphonies of his teacher Henri Reber, and the transcription of Orpheus we hear on today’s program. 

Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)
Piano Trio

By the time Maurice Ravel set about composing his trio for piano, violin, and cello in March 1914, he had been planning to make his first foray into the genre for at least six years. Writing in the French Basque commune of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Ravel was inspired by folk music of the region and began simultaneously composing the trio and a piano concerto, both based on Basque musical themes. With the outbreak of World War 1 in August 1914, Ravel eventually abandoned the concerto and set to quickly completing the trio so he could join the French war effort. Upon the trio’s completion in September 1914, Ravel wrote to Igor Stravinsky, “The idea that I should be leaving at once made me get through five months’ work in five weeks! My Trio is finished.” Ravel enlisted the next month in September 1914, and the Trio received its first public performance in Paris in January 1915.

The trio’s opening movement is based on a Basque dance called the zortziko. Although written in 8/8 time, Ravel subdivides bars into a 3+2+3 pattern that effectively obscures the regular meter. Despite this rhythmic complexity, the opening movement follows a standard sonata form that employs one of Ravel’s signature techniques – recapitulation features the main theme in the piano superimposed over a rhythmically modified version of the second theme. The second movement, Pantoum, takes its name from an Eastern poetic form found in the writings of Verlaine and Baudelaire. Following a traditional scherzo A-B-A form, the two themes alternate between a choppy and staccato opening and the tempestuous waltz of the second theme. 

The third movement is a passacaglia based on an opening eight-bar bassline in the piano that is derived from the first theme of the Pantoum movement. Over the course of the movement’s ten variations, the theme moves between instruments as the music slowly builds to a climax before giving way to a more muted conclusion. In the trio’s finale, Ravel is at his most symphonic. The piano presents the five-measure opening theme over arpeggiated harmonics in the violin and double-stopped trills in the cello. Here, Ravel returns to irregular time signatures, alternating between 5/4 and 7/4 as he builds a complex finale that makes evokes belies the small ensemble size before building to brilliant coda that concludes the work.

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)
Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor, Op. 63

Robert Schumann’s instincts as a composer for the piano were second to none. While an early injury forestalled his career as a concert pianist, his innate sense of the instrument made him one of the most important composers for the piano of the central Romantic period and left a repertoire of beloved compositions featuring the instrument ranging from solo works, art songs, and chamber pieces. Schumann composed all three of his piano trios between 1847 and 1851. Of these, the D minor is the most well-known and has cemented its place in the repertoire. 

The trio opens with a massive movement that follows a subtle, tumultuous narrative rather than crisply articulated classical structure. While the movement broadly follows a sonata form, a continued series of delayed resolutions and syncopations obscure the formal structure. Instead, distinctions between sections are best felt based on mood. This complex and intricate opening movement gives way to a deceptively simple scherzo. The strings join in unison to exchange scalar passages with the piano as a driving dotted rhythm helps maintain the movement’s forward momentum. 

The slower third movement serves at the trio’s dramatic center of gravity with emotional lyricism driven by the violin and cello above a deep bed of sonic support provided by the piano. This movement is distinguished by its broad emotional range as the forlorn longing of the opening and closing sections surround a rapturous middle section. As the lamenting theme returns, the movement hangs on an unresolved cadence that essentially requires the more high-spirited nature of the triumphant finale. The change in character for this final movement is profound as Schumann shifts into a major mode and re-imagines the opening theme of the first movement with a definite and emphatic rhythmic pulse that drives repeatedly to pronounced and definitive cadences. This juxtaposition between the sullen tumult of the earlier movements and the jubilant conclusion gives the entire work a striking contrast of moods that nevertheless feels like a complete narrative.