Mozart's first three full-fledged piano trios were composed in 1786, a prolific period when he had spent five years in Vienna and was gaining recognition.
Instruments
Vilmos Szabadi, the violinist on this recording, plays a Lorenzo Storioni master violin dated 1778.
Compositional Technique
Early classical chamber music, like the accompanied keyboard sonata, often featured a virtuoso keyboard with subordinate strings, where individual parts did not have equal ranking.
Historical Context
The Viennese Classical Period (1765-1795) is considered the first golden age of instrumental chamber music, evolving into an autonomous genre.
Composition History
The evolution of the piano trio, particularly in the 1780s, was crucial in moving string instruments from a basso continuo role to an autonomous character.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Goethe described the classical string quartet as 'like listening to four rational people conversing among themselves,' a definition for true chamber music.
Recording & Production
This album, besides its artistic value, illustrates the theses and statements about style and genre from musicologist Katalin Komlósi's 1986 doctoral dissertation, 'The Viennese Keyboard Trio in the 1780s'.
You might also enjoy...
Mozart: Oboe Quartet, K. 370 / Oboe Quintet, K. 406A
Mozart: Piano Trios
Mozart: 7 Piano Concertos - Symphony No. 40 arranged by Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Mozart: Clarinet Trio "Kegelstatt", Piano Trios K502 & K542
Mozart: Chamber Music with Clarinet
Mozart: Serenade K.361 - A Musical Joke K.522
Mozart: String Quintets Nos. 3 and 4
Mozart: Piano Trios
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 10 and 24 (arr. Hummel for Chamber Ensemble)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 18 - Symphony No. 40 (arr. J. Hummel for chamber ensemble)
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 and 25 (arr. J. Hummel for chamber ensemble)
Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516: III. Adagio ma non troppo
