Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Trio in A minor, Op. 50, was written in Rome between December 1881 and late January 1882. It is subtitled À la mémoire d’un grand artiste [In memory of a great artist], in reference to Nikolai Rubinstein, his close friend and mentor, who had died on 23 March 1881. It is scored for piano, violin, and cello.
🇷🇺 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 (1881-82)
00:00 I. Pezzo elegiaco: Moderato assai - Allegro giusto (in A minor)
18:04 IIa. Tema con variazione: Andante con moto (E major)
19:06 Var I
19:54 Var II: Più mosso
20:27 Var III: Allegro moderato
21:20 Var IV: L'istesso tempo (Allegro moderato)
22:25 Var V: L'istesso tempo
23:01 Var VI: Tempo di Valse
25:31 Var VII: Allegro moderato
26:49 Var VIII: Fuga (Allegro moderato)
29:17 Var IX: Andante flebile, ma non tanto
32:13 Var X: Tempo di mazurka
33:55 Var XI: Moderato
36:02 IIb. Variazione finale e coda: Allegro risoluto e con fuoco (A major)-Andante con moto (A minor)
This was the only work Tchaikovsky ever wrote for the combination of piano, violin, and cello. In 1880, his benefactress Nadezhda von Meck, had asked for such a piece, but he refused, saying in his letter to her of 5 November 1880:
You ask why I have never written a trio. Forgive me, dear friend; I would do anything to give you pleasure, but this is beyond me ... I simply cannot endure the combination of piano with violin or cello. To my mind the timbre of these instruments will not blend ... it is torture for me to have to listen to a string trio or a sonata of any kind for piano and strings. To my mind, the piano can be effective in only three situations: alone, in context with the orchestra, or as accompaniment, i.e., the background of a picture.
A year later, he composed the piano trio without being asked to do so, when any number of other genres or instrumental combinations were also available to him.
In a letter to von Meck of 27 December 1881, he again referred to his "antipathy for this combination of instruments". He wrote: "... in spite of this antipathy, I am thinking of experimenting with this sort of music, which so far I have not touched. I have already written the start of a trio. Whether I shall finish it and whether it will come out successfully I do not know, but I would like very much to bring what I have begun to a successful conclusion ... I won't hide from you the great effort of will required to set down my musical ideas in this new and unusual form. But I should like to overcome all these difficulties ...
He completed his rough sketches on 20 January 1882, and completed the scoring by 25 January. On that day he wrote to von Meck again: "The Trio is finished ... now I can say with some conviction that my work is not all bad. But I am afraid, having written all my life for orchestra, and only taken late in life to chamber music, I may have failed to adapt the instrumental combinations to my musical thoughts. In short, I fear I may have arranged music of a symphonic character as a trio, instead of writing directly for the instruments. I have tried to avoid this, but I am not sure whether I have been successful."
Performers:
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Gautier Capuçon, violoncello
Yuja Wang, piano

[@jmbechtel]

Oh, my. Variation IX is so hauntingly beautiful. 😢❤

[@jmbechtel]

What a trio of performers! Kavakos Capuçon & Wang!? Incredible chemistry!

[@gigogrom216]

I waited for full version so long!

[@pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@Dylonely42]

Thank you.