Hans Pfitzner described himself as an 'anti-modernist' and the 'last German romantic,' opposing atonality and serialism while seeking new paths for traditional tonality.
Compositional Technique
Smetana's Piano Trio in G minor uses a sorrowful motto theme, introduced by the solo violin, which is recalled conspicuously and subtly in all three movements.
Compositional Technique
The principal theme of the rondo finale in Smetana's trio was derived from a protest folk song, 'S'il jsem proso na souvrati' ('I was sowing millet'), associated with Czech radicals opposing Habsburg rule.
Composer Biography
Hans Pfitzner, born in Moscow to German parents, received his formal musical education at Frankfurt's Hoch Conservatory.
Instruments
Boris Kuschnir plays on a violin by Antonius Stradivarius, built in 1698 in Cremona and known as 'La Rouse-Boughton'.
Composition History
Bedřich Smetana's Piano Trio in G minor was sparked by the death of his musically talented four-year-old daughter, Bedřiška, from scarlet fever in 1855.
Performer Biography
Boris Kuschnir, the violinist, was a founding member of the Moscow String Quartet and later founded the Vienna Schubert Trio and Vienna Brahms Trio.
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