Te Kōkī Trio believes this trio brings us closer to the composer’s personal ideals and musings than any other of his works.
Te Kōkī Trio - Martin Riseley (violin), Inbal Megiddo (cello), Jian Liu (piano)
Johannes Brahms Photo: Public Domain, C. Brasch
When Brahms played this trio for Tchaikovsky, the great Russian composer didn’t think much of it at all. He may have enjoyed Brahms’ earlier trios better as those works are more romantic and expansive than the terse and compact Piano Trio in C minor.
Brahms wrote this trio over the summer of 1887 during a long stay in the Swiss town of Thun. After composing his fourth and final symphony the year before, he seems to have turned inward - distilling his musical ideas down to purer forms.
While the music is taut and pithy, this structure is still expansive and is cast in four movements. The no-nonsense first movement speaks in short phrases and simple rhythmic patterns. The second movement, a scherzo, is restless and haunted with a subdued dialogue between the three instruments. This unsettled material continues through to the third movement with its irregular phrases and into the intense and aggressive Finale.
A Wellington Chamber Music Trust concert
Recorded 20 May 2018, St Andrew's on the Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert.
Producer & Engineer: Darryl Stack
