Kozhukhin, Frang and Hornung play all Schumann's Piano Trios

Chamber concert: Cello, Clarinet and Piano

In 1774, the encyclopaedia »Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste« (General Theory of the Fine Arts) stated that only someone could compose trios »who combined all parts of art with a fruitful and lively imagination, and exercised himself to feel every trait of a character or passion musically and to articulate it in tones«. Our concert brings together three trios by composers who truly had what it takes. Although Brahms actually told his publisher in 1890 that it was »certainly time to go«, his creative energy came back and he composed the clarinet trio op. 114 a year later. Turned in on themselves and almost withdrawn, the instruments engage in a quiet dialogue here, loosened only by the two middle movements. A friend of Brahms said: »It is as if the instruments loved one another.« Clarinet, cello and piano are also musical soulmates in Beethoven‘s trio: According to one critic, they made »quite a good ensemble« in 1799. This popular Opus 11 was named the »Gassenhauer-Trio« (popular song trio) because the fiery opening movement and the heartfelt Adagio are followed by an entertaining finale for which Beethoven adopted a popular catchy tune – from Joseph Weigl‘s opera »L‘amor marinaro« (»The Corsair of Love«). However, the fact that too great feelings can also cause suffering is dealt with in Glinka‘s trio, which he prefaced in 1832 with the motto: »I have only experienced love through the pain it causes!« The emotional work seems like an expression of mental anguish set to music: Although the composer was living a carefree life in Italy at the time, the trio reveals the darker side – unhappy love affairs as well as physical ailments, so much so that one musician called out in dismay after the premiere: »What despair!«