Colorado State University / Graduate Piano Trio / 04.25.22

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GRADUATE PIANO TRIO APRIL 25, 2022 ORGAN RECITAL HALL

P R O G R A M GRADUATE PIANO TRIO APRIL 25, 2022

ORGAN RECITAL HALL Annie Smith, Violin Avery Smith, Cello Ty Huey, Piano With Tommy O’Malley, Piano Emmanuel Bonilla, Voice Twelve Scotch Folk Songs (1791-1792) / Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Andante con moto in c minor (1878) / Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Piano Trio No. 2 Op.67 (1944) / Dmitri Schostakovich (1906-1975)

Twelve Scotch Folk Songs (1791-1792 Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical Period. He contributed greatly to the development of chamber music, such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be called “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet.” Haydn comprised the following collection of Scottish songs during his first stays in London, between 1791 and 1792. The songs were originally conceived as an act of charity. An English music dealer, William Napier found himself in unfortunate circumstances that nearly put him in debtor’s prison. Thus, Haydn arranged a number of Scottish folk songs in modern harmonic style and Napier sold them to the public. The collection of songs sold so succelssfully that Napier was able to make his fortune very rapidly–not to mention that Haydn was praised for his “exalted genius” by the public.

Andante con moto in c minor (1878) Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Edvard Grieg is a Norwegian composer, pianist, and conductor. His music is a part of standard classical literature studied and performed today from the romantic era. Grieg is most well known for his orchestral works, but he has also composed a handful of chamber pieces. Andante con moto in c minor (1878) is his only piano trio, and because it was never finished, it stands as a single movement. After Grieg passed away, this movement was discovered by a dear friend of his, Julius Röntigen. Despite this discovery of the trio, it would not be published until nearly a century later in 1978. Röntigen wrote to Grieg’s widow Nina describing the movement: “It is a beautiful piece and completely in order. . . .

What a solemnity it conveys! How he can’t get enough of that single theme, that even in the major mode retains its mourning character, and then develops so beautifully its full power . . . The piece can very well stand by itself and does not at all give the impression of being a fragment, as it constitutes a perfect entity in itself.” The couple years leading up to the composition of this piece were very dark for Grieg, as he was grieving over the loss of both his daughter and parents. As Röntigen stated, a mourning expressiveness and character can be heard throughout the entire movement. A six note theme is fragmented, adjusted with different tempos, harmonies, and rhythm and it carries the mournful sound throughout the piece, twisting through the climax and winding the whole piece to a close until one last somber statement is made by all three voices.

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Piano Trio No. 2 Op.67 (1944) Dmitri Schostakovich (1906-1975) Dmitri Shostakovich was a renowned composer during the height of Soviet Russia.

Shostakovich only wrote two piano trios, the first was a one movement piece he wrote as a student and is not commonly played. Shostakovich wrote his second trio in 1944, in the midst of the second world war and after the sudden death of his dear friend and musicologist Ivan Stollerinky. Shostakovich dedicated this trio to Stollerinsky but it is also a product of the time in which it was written, reflecting upon the deadliest war the world had ever seen. Shostakovich was particularly affected by stories of Polish death camps where Jewish prisoners were forced to “dig their own graves and dance upon them.”

Shostakovich is often inspired by folk music but he had a special interest in Jewish folk music. He admires the duality of Jewish music, how it is both joyous and tragic at the same time. He has been quoted saying “This quality of Jewish music is close to my ideas of what music should be. There should always be two layers in music. Jews were tormented for so long that they learned to hide their despair. They expressed despair in dance music.” You can hear his folk music inspiration throughout the piece but the fourth movement in particular is heavily inspired by Jewish folk melodies.

At the trio’s premiere Shostakovich played the piano part himself and it was so powerful that ‘the music left a devastating impression. People cried openly’, in addition the piece was condemned by the Soviet government and was banned from being performed again until a few years after Stalin’s death. When Shostakovich died in 1975, the heart-wrenching third movement would be one of the pieces played at his funeral.

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