Tradition and Courage

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Kaija Saariaho: Light and Matter

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Tradition and Courage

Description

THE PIANO TRIO is one of chamber music's most beloved and demanding line-ups. With JOSEPH HAYDN, who wrote as many as 45 trios and thereby did much to shape the genre, the combination of violin, cello and piano acquired a tradition that has since followed every composer who has dared to approach it. In this programme four composers meet across time and place – yet they all relate to the same tradition. SALLY BEAMISH wrote TRANCE as a direct tribute to HAYDN'S TRIO in F-SHARP MINOR, and the two open the evening side by side. KAIJA SAARIAHO – one of the most acclaimed composers of our time – admitted herself, while working on LIGHT AND MATTER, that throughout her career she had hesitated to write for piano trio – perhaps precisely because of the line-up's long and weighty tradition. That is easy to understand when you hear the main work of the evening. FRANZ SCHUBERT'S TRIO NO. 2 in E-FLAT MAJOR, written a year before his all too early death at the age of 31, is, despite being one of chamber music's most admired and acclaimed works, rarely performed – not because it is forgotten, but because it makes unusual demands on all three musicians at once. It is a mighty and generous piece of music, one of the most significant and overwhelming masterpieces the genre has produced – an experience for performer and listener alike.