THE TROUT Piano Quintet in A major Trout D667 Notturno in E-flat major D897

Transcription

1 SCHUBERT THE TROUT Piano Quintet in A major Trout D667 Notturno in E-flat major D897 SERAPHIM TRIO with Jacqueline Cronin and David Campbell

2 FRANZ SCHUBERT Piano Quintet in A major, D667 Trout [37 58] 1 I. Allegro vivace II. Andante III. Scherzo (Presto) IV. Theme and Variations (Andantino Allegretto) V. Finale (Allegro giusto) Notturno (Nocturne) for piano trio in E-flat major, D Seraphim Trio Anna Goldsworthy piano Helen Ayres violin Timothy Nankervis cello Jacqueline Cronin viola 1-5 David Campbell double bass 1-5 2

3 Piano Quintet in A major Trout Schubert s Trout Quintet is one of the best loved of all chamber music pieces. Despite its sunny exterior and easy symmetries, it invites obsession. It has inspired at least two books: Vikram Seth s An Equal Music, and Lynne Sharon Schwartz s Disturbances in the Field. Schwartz suggests that the quintet s rich exuberance was a screen for its poignancy, a sense of loss and nostalgia amid plenty, of death in the midst of fertility. Indeed poignancy is an essential part of Schubert s emotional palette. Here, the death of a trout is viewed through the prism of A major Schubert s key of contentment and the overriding impression is of conviviality rather than tragedy. What is it that we are lamenting, anyway? The death of a fish! Schubert began the Trout Quintet while holidaying in Steyr, Austria with his friend, the singer Michael Vogl, in This proved to be one of the most idyllic times of Schubert s short life. He described the countryside as inconceivably beautiful ; critic Willi Kahl suggests the countryside itself was a secret collaborator in the Trout Quintet. The work was commissioned by Sylvester Paumgartner of Steyr, a wealthy bachelor and cello enthusiast. He proved a rather finicky patron, demanding that the work contain a set of variations on Schubert s song Die Forelle, or The Trout. He also requested the combination of instruments employed by Hummel in his piano quintet: piano, violin, viola and cello, with a double bass replacing the traditional second fiddle of this configuration. (The piece Paumgartner proposed as a model was probably not the better-known E-flat major Quintet, as is generally thought, but the quintet version of the Septet in D minor, which had appeared only two years previously.) Such a combination has a strong bass sound, and a greater resonance than a traditional piano quintet. This allowed Schubert, one of history s greatest masters of sonority, to write much of the piano part in the upper and middle registers, creating transparent, spacious textures. Schubert does not appear to have laboured over the work s structure: it unfolds in five movements, of which the first, second and fifth contain entire sections repeated, with rearranged key relationships. This simplicity is sometimes attributed to Schubert s speed of composition, but it is also an important aspect of the work s spontaneity. The story of The Trout is of tragi-comic character: comic, because the plight of a trout does not arouse strong feelings except in the most committed vegetarian, and yet tragic, because the allegories of the situation are clear. Narrated by a bystander, it tells of a lively trout who successfully thwarts an angler, before the intervention of human deviousness: 3

4 But in the end the robber grew tired of waiting. Cunningly, he muddied the water, and before I could even think it, the rod jerked, the little fish floundered on the hook, and, blood boiling, I watched the victim of this betrayal. In the fourth, variation movement, Schubert passes the Trout theme around the quintet, exploiting the instruments personalities, from the agility of the violin, to the portentousness of the double bass. Vikram Seth describes the effect of this movement on his protagonist violinist: a slim fish leaps in silver scales from its murky shallows. Each time it emerges it is a variant colour: gold, copper, steelgrey, silver-blue, emerald. Schubert teases out the song s possibilities, before its original squirming accompaniment reappears in the final variation, and then fades out. He was evidently pleased with the results, as he repeated the technique of variation movements in later works, most notably the Death and the Maiden Quartet. In 1819, the completed work was sent to Paumgartner, who did not distinguish himself with the cello part. Little more was heard from it until a year after Schubert s death, when his brother sold it to the publisher Josef Czerny. The work was published in 1829, and this most sociable of pieces finally met its audience, to whom it has continued to speak. Notturno for piano trio in E-flat major Schubert s Notturno (Nocturne) for piano trio dates from the final, astonishingly productive year of his short life along with the two great Piano Trios in B-flat and E-flat major. Previous to this, Schubert had written for this instrumental combination only once, in his adolescent Sonatensatz fifteen years earlier. And while the Sonatensatz (Sonata Movement) is an elegant excursion into Classical idiom, it is in the Notturno and the two great Trios that we hear the mature Schubert voice. The Notturno appears to have been composed at the same time as the B-flat major Trio, and may have been intended originally as a slow movement to it, but was discarded, possibly on account of its length. It unfolds in extended ternary form, alternating between intimacy and grandeur. 4

5 The opening theme begins pianissimo in E-flat major, with the radiant melody announced by strings against a harp-like piano accompaniment. After this, the first episode, in the Neapolitan key of E major, arrives as a gear change both tonally and emotionally: its heraldic, march-like character could scarcely provide more contrast. The second, contracted episode occurs in the brilliant submediant key of C major. After these exuberant explosions, the theme s return seems even more intimate. In each appearance, its accompaniment is further embellished, as through propelling us into higher planes of heaven. Anna Goldsworthy Seraphim Trio Founded in 1994, Seraphim Trio comprises pianist Anna Goldsworthy, violinist Helen Ayres, and cellist Timothy Nankervis. The Trio is celebrated for its vitality and rapport, and its innovative programming. Since winning the prize for Leading Piano Trio and the Audience Choice Award in the 2001 Australian National Chamber Music Competition, Seraphim Trio has performed internationally and throughout Australia. Alongside its acclaimed subscription series, now in its sixth year, Seraphim Trio is regularly invited to music festivals throughout Australia and internationally. It appears regularly for Musica Viva, and is frequently broadcast on ABC Classic FM. The Trio maintains a robust commissioning program, and has worked with a range of Australian composers. Seraphim Trio has studied in Germany with Hatto Beyerle, and in Australia with William Hennessy, Eleonora Sivan, Mark Mogilevski, Ronald Farren-Price and Lois Simpson. 5

6 Jacqueline Cronin Jacqueline Cronin graduated from the Canberra School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree with High Distinction in 1998, after studies with Vincent Edwards. In 1999 and 2000, she held full scholarships at the Australian National Academy of Music, studying with various Australian and international violists. In 2002 Jacqueline graduated with a Master of Music Performance degree from the University of Melbourne, having studied with Katherine Brockman and Fiona Sargent. Jacqueline Cronin has freelanced with ensembles and orchestras including the Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. She has also been active as a chamber musician, performing regularly with the Sydney Omega Ensemble. David Campbell David Campbell joined the Sydney Symphony double bass section in He has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and was a founding member of the Sydney Omega Ensemble. David completed his Bachelor of Music degree (cum laude) in the US at Rice University s Shepherd School of Music, studying with Paul Ellison and graduating with the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. He also spent two summers as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he studied and played with members of the Boston Symphony. In 2008 David Campbell reached the string final of the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards. A former member of the Australian Youth Orchestra, he was a tutor at the Orchestra s Young Symphonists program in 2009 and

7 Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert Patterson Recording Producer Virginia Read 1-5, Stephen Snelleman 6 Recording Engineer Virginia Read 1-5, Alex Stinson 6 Editing Thomas Grubb (Mano Musica) 1-5, Alex Stinson 6 Mastering Thomas Grubb (Mano Musica) Publications Editor Natalie Shea Marketing and Catalogue Coordinator Laura Bell Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Cover Photo Trout at Winchester by Valentine Thomas Garland (fl ). Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library Recorded 17 March 2010 in the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo 1-5 and January 2011 in the Melbourne Recital Centre Salon 6. ABC Classics thanks Jonathan Villanueva. 6 licensed courtesy of Seraphim Trio Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Seraphim Trio Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited. 7

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