Trio Staier - Sepec - Queyras

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) remained long faithful to his teachers Salieri and Haydn and had difficulty freeing himself from the classical tradition. This does not detract from the intrinsic quality of his chamber music, confirmed by the opening trio that Andreas Staier and friends chose for this promising concert programme. According to the romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, the opus 70 piano trios are proof that Beethoven (1770-1827) 'has grasped the romantic essence of music in the depths of his soul'. Indeed, the trios are a far cry from some of the merely eloquent or virtuoso works of the period. The 'Ghost Trio' - the name refers to the theme of the middle movement - redefined the genre with its free use of structure and unusual use of timbre. Unlike the First Piano Trio written a month previously, Schubert's Second Piano Trio, opus 100, was performed publicly. He claimed that it had received general approval. It is more robust and possibly has an even better structure than the first trio. The second movement, characterised by the rhythm of a funeral march, is one of the most captivating pieces Schubert (1797-1828) ever wrote. The tragedy of the second movement is elevated in the fourth movement into a paean of love.