Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff: Piano Trio in A Minor, Trio Élégiaque

Featuring

Dmitri Makhtin
Alexander Kniazev
Klára Würtz
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Composition History

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50, subtitled 'In memory of a great artist', was written as a tribute to Nikolai Rubinstein, a pianist and conductor whose death deeply affected Tchaikovsky.

Performer Biography

Klára Würtz, the pianist on this recording, was admitted to the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest at age fourteen and has performed over a hundred concerts in the United States and Canada.

Composition History

Tchaikovsky initially expressed strong negative sentiments towards the piano trio format, considering the characteristics of violin, cello, and piano to be inherently incompatible.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff began work on his Trio élégiaque in D minor in memory of Tchaikovsky on the same day Tchaikovsky died, almost exactly eleven years after the premiere of Tchaikovsky's revised trio.

Performer Biography

Dmitri Makhtin, the violinist, won first prize at the Russian violinists competition in 1989 and is a laureate of several international competitions, including the Paganini and Sibelius Competitions.

Compositional Technique

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio features an unconventional format, beginning with a sonata-form movement followed by an extended theme and variations, taking Beethoven's final sonata Op. 111 as a model.

Performer Biography

Alexander Kniazev, the cellist, is described as a worthy successor to Mstislav Rostropovitch and one of Russia's leading contemporary cellists, having debuted in 1978.