Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky Trios: Daniel Lozakovich, Alexandre Kantorow,, Gautier Capuçon

Louis Vuitton Foundation. Two great Russian trios

0:00 opening
1:04 Rachmaninoff: Trio élégiaque No.1 in G minor
15:23 Tchaikovsky's Trio in A minor, Op. 50, À la mémoire d’un grand artiste [In memory of a great artist], I. Pezzo elegiaco (Moderato assai – Allegro giusto) 
32:59 II. (A) Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto (in E major) – (B) Variazione finale e coda (in A major – A minor)

History: 

In a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 24 October/5 November 1880, Tchaikovsky responded to her question—"Why don't you write a trio?"—with a detailed explanation for his reasons for his antipathy towards this genre, on the basis that the piano and string instruments formed an unnatural combination. "The thing is", he wrote, "that to my ears the acoustic combination of piano with violin or cello solo is completely incompatible. In this sonority the instruments seem to repel one another, and I assure you that any kind of trio or sonata with piano or cello is absolute torture for me... But is it not unnatural to combine three such individual instruments as violin, cello and piano? The qualities of each of them are lost. The lyrical and wonderfully warm timbres produced by the violin and the cello can be accompanied by the king of instruments, but the latter tries in vain to show its ability to sing against its rivals... But you know the term trio implies a homogeneity, whereas here there are instrumental solos on the one hand, and the piano on the other. It is not just that the piano trio is inevitably manufactured, each of the three playing their instrument continually, but also the difficulties this represents for the author in distributing his musical ideas between the voices."

Nevertheless, at the end of the following year in Rome, the composer decided to write a trio. Writing to Nadezhda von Meck on 15/27 December 1881, he referred to his "antipathy for this combination of instruments." Tchaikovsky told her: "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..."

Some days later, the composer wrote to her again about his work on the trio: "Do not think, my dear friend, that I am exhausting myself by composing the trio. At first I had to force myself to write something and for my mind's ear to become accustomed to this combination of instruments. But now I am working with interest and enthusiasm, and the thought that the trio will provide you with some pleasure makes my task all the more fascinating."

References to the unusual nature of his work, and the difficulties this presented in its early stages, also crop up in other letters.

On 8/20 January 1882, Tchaikovsky wrote: "This morning I finished the rough sketches of my trio." However, after completing the sketches he decided to set aside work on the trio for a time: "Let the trio rest a while: it will do it good. I shall add the finishing touches later..."

Tchaikovsky evidently completed the final stage of composition around 13/25 January, when he wrote: "I have completed my trio and made the fair copy with great care. Now that the thing is written, I must say I am quite sure that this composition has not turned out at all badly. My only concern is that I may have left it too late to try my hand at this new sort of chamber music, and that some aspects of my writings for orchestra will show themselves. In short, I am unsure whether this is really symphonic music just arranged for a trio, rather than being specifically designed for them. I took great pains to avoid this, but I don't know that it has turned out this way."

In a letter of 18/30 January, Tchaikovsky promised Pyotr Jurgenson that he would send him the trio within weeks for publication. "I have already copied out the first movement—the second (Andante with 12 variations, of which the twelfth and last, also serves as a finale) I will begin to copy out tomorrow." A week later in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky mentioned that the trio was "absorbing all my time and energy."

"My trio is coming along, and working on it is very pleasant", Tchaikovsky wrote on 30 January/11 February. "The trio will comprise two movements. The second movement is a theme with many variations, of which the last will be a finale to the whole piece." Evidently, by then Tchaikovsky had already put the finishing touches to the trio, since the autograph date on the fair copy of the score reads: "Roma 28 J[anvier]–9 f[evrier] 1882". On 30 January/11 February the manuscript was dispatched to Pyotr Jurgenson.