Clarinet-violin-piano trio
Encyclopedia
A clarinet-violin-piano trio is a standardized chamber
musical ensemble
made up of one clarinet
, one violin
, and one piano
participating in relatively equal roles, or the name of a piece
written for such a group.
The idea of a clarinet-violin-piano trio is relatively modern. While previous examples exist in which the clarinet was considered to substitute for the more common cello
of a piano trio
, the clarinet-violin-piano trio was established as a genre of musical composition
by the Verdehr Trio
's commissioning of over 200 new works since their founding in 1972 at Michigan State University
.
An example of a clarinet-viola-piano trio
existed several hundred years before the clarinet-violin-piano trio; Mozart composed his famous Kegelstatt Trio
in the 18th century, and the Romantic
composer Max Bruch
composed a suite of eight pieces for this combination, as well as a double concerto
for viola, clarinet, and orchestra. Many of these works can be (or already have been) transcribed for a clarinet-violin-piano trio.
Unlike a piano trio
or a concerto, there is no standard form for a composition
for a clarinet-violin-piano trio; a piece can have any number of movements, at any tempo
, in any key
.
Acoustically, the choice of a clarinet, violin, and piano is characteristic in that most chamber music (and most music
in general) contains high (soprano
), mid-range (alto
/tenor
), and low (bass
/baritone
) parts. However, both a clarinet and a violin play relatively high-pitched parts, making for a less-balanced sound than a trio that contains a more possible range, such as a violin-cello-piano trio
. Timbral contrast is provided between the woodwind
(clarinet), bowed
string
(violin), and keyboard instrument
(piano).
The trio features Walter Verdehr on violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr
on clarinet, and Silvia Roederer
on piano. The couple discovered the 20th-early century repertoire for clarinet, violin, and piano pre-existing and set about commissioning works the ensemble. To make this music available the trio released The Making of a Medium CD Series on Crystal Records
and a parallel Video Series including performances, interviews and discussions by the composers as well as a complete performance of the work.
(Contrasts (Bartók)
), Stravinsky
, Milhaud
, Khachaturian
, Berg
, Krenek
, Poulenc
and Ives
.
Béla Bartók
's Contrasts was commissioned for violinist Joseph Szigeti
and clarinetist Benny Goodman
and is one of the best known pieces in the genre. Kárpáti describes the piece as possessing "technical bravura and at the same time...poetic versatility". In contrast, E.R., explains that the "contrasts are "of speed rather than of mood" but that despite this "lack of variety...Bartók's genius consists in gifts of rhetoric so rich that he can spread this one mood, and spread it interestingly, over a score or more of large-scale works".
Seiber considers it "a less weighty, less important work in Bartók's whole œuvre" though the "writing for both violin and clarinet" are "most effective throughout". An article describing a program in which "the standard note on Bartók's Contrasts...was replaced by a sequential, diagrammatic sketch," concluded that, "in fact, Bartók looks as inscrutable as he sounds".
, Alan Hovhaness
, Karel Husa
, Thea Musgrave
, Ned Rorem
, Gunther Schuller
, Peter Schickele
, Alexander Arutiunian
, David Diamond
, William Bolcom
, Betsy Jolas
, Libby Larsen
, Philippe Manoury
, Gian Carlo Menotti
, Peter Sculthorpe
and Joan Tower
.
Rorem's The End of Summer (1985), which may be found on several recordings featuring his work, features hints of church music. The composer describes the piece's similarities to its direct predecessor, his Scenes from Childhood, in that each of three movements is "suggested by musical works of yore. There are suggestions of Satie, Brahms, hopscotch ditties and Protestant anthems." Rorem says his, Musgrave's, and Dickinson's pieces all "quote literally from the past" and also describes asking "Chuck" if he ever disapproved of Samuel Barber
's pieces as Rorem's partner did of Rorem's the evening it premiered.
Schuller's A Trio Setting, in "the classical fast-slow-scherzo-fast form" shows the influence of Bartok but is described as "original...varied, affecting and exciting by turns, and inventive" worth listening to again.
Nathan Currier
's Variations is described as "more difficult" and seemingly "too long at almost 34 minutes." It repeatedly quotes as a theme a song from Binchois, "De plus en plus", sounding like a Brahms lullaby. The piece also shows the influence of Bartok's Contrasts.
Husa's Trio Setting [W22], commissioned by the Verdehr Trio in 1981, showcases each instrument in one movement and has been described by William Crutchfield
as, "standout...with its sure sense of climax and dramatic variety in the instrumental handling."
was commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and first performed in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1986. Consistent with Musgrave's earlier work, such as her Second Chamber Concerto (1966), Clarinet Concerto (1967), and Space Play (1974), Pierrot is highly programmatic and the score contains indications for stage locations, lighting plots, and movements. The score to Pierrot is printed so that parts may be extracted so as to facilitate the movements of the players so as to ensure successful performance of these optional stage directions.
Musgrave cites Debussy's "La Sérénade interrompue" (Préludes, Bk. 1) as the "starting point for this work", a highly appropriate fit given the featuring of interrupted serenades as part of a commedia dell'arte love triangle. They appear to share little beyond the aesthetic concept of interruption, the relative tonal plans of the serenades (Bb minor and D major in Debussy and A minor and Db major in Musgrave), and the V13 chord built on E serves as an interruption in both pieces. In the Musgrave the V13 first creates somewhat of a half cadence in A minor and later jarringly intrudes in the more remote Db major context of the Harlequin's serenade..
Rorem describes Pierrot as a "charmer, purposefully virtuosic, and visual in the sense that each instrument represents a character: clarinet Columbine, violin Pierrot, piano Harlequin."
, Skrowaczewski, and Wallace. They have also commissioned violin-clarinet double concertos from James Niblock, William Wallace, Dinos Constantinides, Paul Chihara
, Ian Krouse and Richard Mills
.
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
made up of one clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, one violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, and one piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
participating in relatively equal roles, or the name of a piece
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
written for such a group.
The idea of a clarinet-violin-piano trio is relatively modern. While previous examples exist in which the clarinet was considered to substitute for the more common cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
of a piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
, the clarinet-violin-piano trio was established as a genre of musical composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
by the Verdehr Trio
Verdehr Trio
The Verdehr Trio is a chamber ensemble that has worked to promote the clarinet-violin-piano trio repertoire through international commissions, recordings, and performances. The trio features Walter Verdehr on violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr on clarinet, and Silvia Roederer on piano...
's commissioning of over 200 new works since their founding in 1972 at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
.
An example of a clarinet-viola-piano trio
Clarinet-viola-piano trio
A clarinet-viola-piano trio is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, one viola, and one piano, or the name of a piece written for such a group....
existed several hundred years before the clarinet-violin-piano trio; Mozart composed his famous Kegelstatt Trio
Kegelstatt Trio
The Kegelstatt Trio , also referred to as the Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E-flat, is a classical chamber music composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-History:...
in the 18th century, and the Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
composer Max Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
composed a suite of eight pieces for this combination, as well as a double concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
for viola, clarinet, and orchestra. Many of these works can be (or already have been) transcribed for a clarinet-violin-piano trio.
Unlike a piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
or a concerto, there is no standard form for a composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
for a clarinet-violin-piano trio; a piece can have any number of movements, at any tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
, in any key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
.
Acoustically, the choice of a clarinet, violin, and piano is characteristic in that most chamber music (and most music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
in general) contains high (soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
), mid-range (alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
/tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
), and low (bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
/baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) parts. However, both a clarinet and a violin play relatively high-pitched parts, making for a less-balanced sound than a trio that contains a more possible range, such as a violin-cello-piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
. Timbral contrast is provided between the woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
(clarinet), bowed
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
(violin), and keyboard instrument
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(piano).
Verdehr Trio
The trio features Walter Verdehr on violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr
Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr
Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr is an American clarinetist and music educator whose contributions to the Verdehr Trio have resulted in an extensive modern body of work for the clarinet-violin-piano trio medium.- Biography :...
on clarinet, and Silvia Roederer
Silvia Roederer
Silvia Roederer DMA is a native of Argentina. Her focus on piano began after emigrating to the U.S. and includes study with John Perry at USC, David Burge at Eastman, and Menahem Pressler at festivals in Banff, Long Beach, and Ravinia....
on piano. The couple discovered the 20th-early century repertoire for clarinet, violin, and piano pre-existing and set about commissioning works the ensemble. To make this music available the trio released The Making of a Medium CD Series on Crystal Records
Crystal Records
Crystal Records, Inc. is an American producer and distributor of classical chamber and solo music recordings. The company was founded in 1966 by Peter George Christ and is incorporated in the state of Washington....
and a parallel Video Series including performances, interviews and discussions by the composers as well as a complete performance of the work.
Early 20th-century
There are examples of clarinet-violin-piano trios prior to 1970 by composers including BartókBéla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
(Contrasts (Bartók)
Contrasts (Bartók)
Contrasts is a 1938 composition scored for clarinet-violin-piano trio by Béla Bartók . It is based on Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies and has three movements with a combined duration of 17-20 minutes. Bartók wrote the work in response to a letter from violinist Joseph Szigeti, although it...
), Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
, Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
, Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Krenek
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
, Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
and Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
.
Bartok's Contrasts
Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
's Contrasts was commissioned for violinist Joseph Szigeti
Joseph Szigeti
Joseph Szigeti was a Hungarian violinist.Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on the violin, and moved to Budapest with his father to study with the renowned pedagogue Jenő Hubay...
and clarinetist Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
and is one of the best known pieces in the genre. Kárpáti describes the piece as possessing "technical bravura and at the same time...poetic versatility". In contrast, E.R., explains that the "contrasts are "of speed rather than of mood" but that despite this "lack of variety...Bartók's genius consists in gifts of rhetoric so rich that he can spread this one mood, and spread it interestingly, over a score or more of large-scale works".
Seiber considers it "a less weighty, less important work in Bartók's whole œuvre" though the "writing for both violin and clarinet" are "most effective throughout". An article describing a program in which "the standard note on Bartók's Contrasts...was replaced by a sequential, diagrammatic sketch," concluded that, "in fact, Bartók looks as inscrutable as he sounds".
Later 20th-century
Trios were commissioned by Verdehr from composers including Leslie BassettLeslie Bassett
Leslie Bassett is an American composer of classical music, and the University of Michigan’s Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Composition...
, Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
, Karel Husa
Karel Husa
Karel Husa is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition...
, Thea Musgrave
Thea Musgrave
Thea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music.-Biography:Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger...
, Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
, Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
, Alexander Arutiunian
Alexander Arutiunian
Alexander Grigorevich Arutiunian , also known as Arutunian, Arutyunyan, Arutjunjan or Harutiunian Alexander Grigorevich Arutiunian (Arm. Ալեքսանդր Գրիգորի Հարությունյան), also known as Arutunian, Arutyunyan, Arutjunjan or Harutiunian Alexander Grigorevich Arutiunian (Arm. Ալեքսանդր Գրիգորի...
, David Diamond
David Diamond (composer)
David Leo Diamond was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career:He was born in Rochester, New York and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music under Bernard Rogers, also receiving lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City and Nadia Boulanger in...
, William Bolcom
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
, Betsy Jolas
Betsy Jolas
Betsy Jolas is a French composer.Betsy Jolas was born in Paris. Resident in the United States from 1940 until 1946, she studied composition with Paul Boepple and piano with Helen Schnabel. On her return to France she continued her studies with Simone Plé-Caussade, Darius Milhaud and Olivier...
, Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...
, Philippe Manoury
Philippe Manoury
Philippe Manoury is a French composer.-Biography:Philippe Manoury was born in Tulle. His first composition studies were at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to 1978 at the Conservatoire de Paris with Michel Philippot, Ivo...
, Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
and Joan Tower
Joan Tower
Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
.
Rorem's The End of Summer (1985), which may be found on several recordings featuring his work, features hints of church music. The composer describes the piece's similarities to its direct predecessor, his Scenes from Childhood, in that each of three movements is "suggested by musical works of yore. There are suggestions of Satie, Brahms, hopscotch ditties and Protestant anthems." Rorem says his, Musgrave's, and Dickinson's pieces all "quote literally from the past" and also describes asking "Chuck" if he ever disapproved of Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
's pieces as Rorem's partner did of Rorem's the evening it premiered.
Schuller's A Trio Setting, in "the classical fast-slow-scherzo-fast form" shows the influence of Bartok but is described as "original...varied, affecting and exciting by turns, and inventive" worth listening to again.
Nathan Currier
Nathan Currier
- Biography :Coming from a musical family, composer Nathan Kind Currier is son of composer Marilyn Currier and brother of composer Sebastian Currier ....
's Variations is described as "more difficult" and seemingly "too long at almost 34 minutes." It repeatedly quotes as a theme a song from Binchois, "De plus en plus", sounding like a Brahms lullaby. The piece also shows the influence of Bartok's Contrasts.
Husa's Trio Setting [W22], commissioned by the Verdehr Trio in 1981, showcases each instrument in one movement and has been described by William Crutchfield
William Crutchfield
William Crutchfield was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 3rd congressional district of Tennessee. He was born on November 16, 1824 in Greeneville, Tennessee in Greene County...
as, "standout...with its sure sense of climax and dramatic variety in the instrumental handling."
Musgrave's Pierrot
Thea Musgrave's PierrotPierrot
Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell'Arte whose origins are in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne; the name is a hypocorism of Pierre , via the suffix -ot. His character in postmodern popular culture—in...
was commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and first performed in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1986. Consistent with Musgrave's earlier work, such as her Second Chamber Concerto (1966), Clarinet Concerto (1967), and Space Play (1974), Pierrot is highly programmatic and the score contains indications for stage locations, lighting plots, and movements. The score to Pierrot is printed so that parts may be extracted so as to facilitate the movements of the players so as to ensure successful performance of these optional stage directions.
Musgrave cites Debussy's "La Sérénade interrompue" (Préludes, Bk. 1) as the "starting point for this work", a highly appropriate fit given the featuring of interrupted serenades as part of a commedia dell'arte love triangle. They appear to share little beyond the aesthetic concept of interruption, the relative tonal plans of the serenades (Bb minor and D major in Debussy and A minor and Db major in Musgrave), and the V13 chord built on E serves as an interruption in both pieces. In the Musgrave the V13 first creates somewhat of a half cadence in A minor and later jarringly intrudes in the more remote Db major context of the Harlequin's serenade..
Rorem describes Pierrot as a "charmer, purposefully virtuosic, and visual in the sense that each instrument represents a character: clarinet Columbine, violin Pierrot, piano Harlequin."
Concertos
Clarinet-violin-piano concertos have been commissioned by Verdehr from Buhr, David, OttDavid Ott
David Ott is an American composer of classical music.Born in Crystal Falls, Michigan, Ott's works include four symphonies, an opera , the Annapolis Overture, written for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and various pieces of children's music. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music ...
, Skrowaczewski, and Wallace. They have also commissioned violin-clarinet double concertos from James Niblock, William Wallace, Dinos Constantinides, Paul Chihara
Paul Chihara
Paul Seiko Chihara is an American composer.Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American, he spent several years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho....
, Ian Krouse and Richard Mills
Richard Mills
Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
.
Composers of clarinet-violin-piano trios
(This is an incomplete list.)- Joan Albert AmargósJoan Albert AmargósJoan Albert Amargós is a Spanish composer and conductor born in Barcelona in 1950. Amargós is an instrumentalist on piano and clarinet, and has composed a number of chamber and symphonic works...
- Alexander Arutiunian
- Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
- ContrastsContrasts (Bartók)Contrasts is a 1938 composition scored for clarinet-violin-piano trio by Béla Bartók . It is based on Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies and has three movements with a combined duration of 17-20 minutes. Bartók wrote the work in response to a letter from violinist Joseph Szigeti, although it...
for clarinet, violin, and piano (1938) Sz. 111, BB 116
- Contrasts
- Alban BergAlban BergAlban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
- Adagio, violin, clarinet and piano, arranged 1956 (arrangement of Kammerkonzert mvm 2)
- William BolcomWilliam BolcomWilliam Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
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- Lemuria Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano (2007)
- Donald ErbDonald ErbDonald Erb was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and Ritual Observances.-Early years:...
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- John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
- Variations (1982)
- Stephen HartkeStephen HartkeStephen Paul Hartke is an American composer. He grew up in Manhattan, where his first piano teacher was Mary Miley, and has lived in California since the 1980s...
- The Horse with the Lavender Eye (1997)
- Douglas KnehansDouglas KnehansDouglas Knehans is an Australian/American composer and academic.Between 2008 and 2010 he was Dean of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.-External links:* ²* ¹...
- rive (2002)
- Jeffrey Harrington
- Alan HovhanessAlan HovhanessAlan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
- Trio Lake Samish, Op.415 (1988)
- Charles IvesCharles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
- Largo for Violin, Clarinet and Piano (1934?)
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- Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1932)
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- Trio, Op. 108 (1946)
- Edward ManukyanEdward ManukyanEdward Manukyan is an Armenian-born composer residing in Southern California, United States...
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- Suite for clarinet, violin and piano Op.157b (1936)
- Denis Pousseur
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- Manel Ribera
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- Peter Scholes
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- Trio in E flat, Op. 20, No. 5
Current clarinet-violin-piano trio ensembles
(This is an incomplete list.)- The Prima Trio (Boris Allakhverdyan, Gulia Gurevich, Anastasia Dedik)
- The Alegria Trio (Andrew Stainer, Zhanna Tonaganyan, William Cale)
- The Anatolian Trio (Anna Griffis, Daniel Liptak, Erberk Eryilmaz)
- The Zodiac Trio
- The Nordica Trio (Karen Beacham, Graybert Beacham, Martin Perry)
- The Bellerive Trio
- The Pamina Trio (Ikuko Kitakado, Beatriz Lopez, Keiko Hattori)
- The Verdehr Trio
- The Sapphire Trio
- The Strata Trio
- The Trio Aumage (Aurélie Samani, Maguy Giraud, Geneviève Melet)
- The Kat Trio
- The Trio Gaudì (Cardillo Giovanni, Alessio Terranova, Silvia Nicola)
- The The Ensemble da Camera of Washington (Claire Eichhorn, clarinet, Anna Balakerskaia, piano, Ricardo Cyncynates, violin/viola)
Sources
- Carbon, John. "Pierrot for Violin, Clarinet and Piano by Thea Musgrave", Notes, 2nd Ser., Vol.50, No. 2. (Dec., 1993), pp. 761–762.
- E. R. (1943) ."Review: Contrasts, for Violin, Clarinet and Piano by Béla Bartók", Music & Letters, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Jan., 1943), p. 61.
- Hitchens, Susan Hayes (1991). Karel Husa: A Bio-Bibliography. ISBN 0313255857.
- Kárpáti, János (1981). "Alternative Structures in Bartók's 'Contrasts'", Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, T. 23, Fasc. 1/4, Centenrio Belae Bartók Sacrum#.
- Max, Stephen R. "Verdehr Trio 3." American Record Guide 57.n6 (Nov-Dec 1994): 218(1).
- Rorem (2002). Lies: A Diary: 1986-1999. ISBN 0306811065.
- Seiber, Mátyás (1949). "Béla Bartók's Chamber Music", Tempo, New Ser., No. 13, Bartók Number. (Autumn, 1949), pp. 19–31.
External links
- Rockwell, John " Concert: Verdehr Trio" Review, NYTimes.com. Published: February 18, 1988.
- The Verdehr Trio website.