# Piano Trio Advice



## reflynn

*TL;DR:* Seeking repertoire advice for a newly-formed piano trio with a fantastic pianist and competent violinist and cellist, with limited rehearsal time but willingness for a challenge. Possibilities that have been suggested include Dvorak in F minor, Brahms string sextets (arranged for piano trio), Rachmaninoff Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Arensky No. 1 in D minor, and Beethoven "Ghost" in D major and "Archduke" in B flat major.

I (violinist for 12 years, attending a non-music college) am going to be in a piano trio this fall and would really appreciate advice on repertoire. The pianist is amazing - she has soloed with the Boston Pops, has years of chamber music experience, and did a fantastic job accompanying me last semester. The cellist is a good player who has done chamber music for several years but hasn't taken private lessons since starting college three years ago; we were in a string quartet together last semester. I've stopped taking private lessons as of earlier this year, though I still practice solo repertoire - have played Wieniawski No. 2 and Sibelius and am currently learning Tchaikovsky.

As far as rehearsing goes, we're planning on getting together around the beginning of September to just sightread through some things and build our ensemble sound. We're going to be in a program that provides coaching throughout the fall semester until our recital in early December, where we'll be performing one piece, ideally around 30 minutes. Starting the second week of September, we'll get an hour of coaching once a week and will probably rehearse together for two or three hours each week. (I know that is very little, but the cellist and I are busy STEM majors and the pianist is a busy software developer.) While we'd definitely like to sound good at our recital, we're more concerned with choosing a piece that will challenge us as an ensemble and help us grow as musicians (even if we don't play perfectly at our recital). On the flip side, we don't want to pick a piece so hard that we can't play it to a reasonable standard in three months.

Based on previous threads on the subject of piano trios, which invariably state that the pianist always has the most difficult part, we're letting the pianist veto piece suggestions. But she is an excellent player, and I'm concerned that pieces which are well within her technical abilities will be too difficult for the amount of time we have to rehearse together, the newness of our ensemble, and possibly the technical abilities of the cellist and I, given our limited individual practice time. The pianist has suggested the Dvorak No. 3 in F minor or either of the Brahms string sextets arranged for piano trio. The cellist likes the Rachmaninoff Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor. As for me, I'm not very familiar with the piano trio repertoire, but I really love the Arensky No. 1 in D minor and also the Beethoven "Ghost" in D major and "Archduke" in B flat major.

Any advice on whether any of these trios would be a good pick, and if not, which trios would you recommend? (Would prefer Romantic era or after, as both the cellist and I are not huge fans of Haydn and Mozart.) Also, any general advice for our trio? Thanks so much in advance! (And my apologies for the gigantic wall of text.)


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## Josquin13

I like the Brahms' Sextet, Op. 18, but have never heard Theodor Kirchner's arrangement for piano trio in concert. That sounds like an interesting piece to work on & perform. I assume you're considering the Kirchner arrangement?, which Brahms approved of & liked (Kirchner was a friend of the composer's). In 2011, Bärenreiter published an edition of this arrangement by the late Christopher Hogwood. Is that the edition you're thinking of using? It includes facsimiles of both the original sextet and the trio arrangement.

http://www.hogwood.org/rcom.htm/

I like Brahms 3 Piano Trios too (and if you're going to play Brahms, you should get to know them):














Other standard piano trio repertory includes the following:

1. Ravel Piano Trio in A minor (1914)--This is one of my favorite piano trios, and it's magical to hear in concert. Don't miss the distant rumblings of WW1 artillery fire in the piano part (which Trio Dali gets better than most):














2. Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49, and No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66: 




3. Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898, and No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 929:










4. There's also a Notturno in E-flat major, O. 148 (D. 897) by Schubert: which is a "nocturne" for piano trio (sometimes called an Adagio). All of "late" Schubert is worth hearing and exploring. It might make a good encore piece: 




5. Faure Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120: 




6. Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67:




More off the beaten track:

7. Milhaud Piano Trio, Op. 428 (1968)--Milhaud's trio may be too difficult for you to play, I'm not sure, as you don't want to have any intonation mishaps in a work of this nature (it could get very ugly):










8. Roslavets Piano Trios 1-3: Here is a recording of the Piano Trio No. 3, played by Trio Fontenay: 




9. Holmboe: "Nuigen" Piano Trio, Op. 129: the following You Tube link also includes Holmboe's Piano Trio, Op. 64, Carl Nielsen's Piano Trio, and Per Nørgard's "Spell" (a work for piano trio), which you may want to consider as well:




10. But, any conversation regarding the finest works in the piano trio repertory should include Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, and especially Haydn's piano trios. The legendary pianist Rudolf Serkin once remarked that Haydn's Piano Trios were on the same sublime level as Mozart's Piano Concertos, and I agree. (Mozart's Piano Trios are likewise great favorites of mine.) So keep an open mind. You may return to these works one day, and find they're better than you initially thought.

My two cents.


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## Mandryka

Why don't you do something a bit more off the beaten track? Still very much in a romantic style there's the Sviridov trio, for example. And even better there's a really fabulous trio by the Chicago composer George Flynn called American Summer. More adventurous harmonically perhaps would be the Harrison Birtwistle trio or Bend Alois Zimmermann's Présence -- that would be great to do if you could find a dancer to join you. 

If you're interested in old film you may enjoy exploring Michael Finnissy's trio inspired by A Propos De Nice. And if you're feeling strong why not go for one of the really big great trios -- the 1980 Morton Feldman piano trio.


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