Czech Chamber Music Society • Trio Bohémo

When it comes to the Viennese Classicism composers, the Czech Chamber Music Society concerts mainly featured Ludwig van Beethoven’s trios, particularly the Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 (No. 1, “Geistertrio”) and Grand Trio in B flat major, Op. 97, which overshadowed other chamber pieces of his, including the Piano Trio in C minor, the third of the three piano trios designated as Op. 1. The publication of the set by Artaria in Vienna in 1795 was preceded by a highly successful self-promotion and subscriptions. Beethoven had probably begun working on the trios a few years previously (in 1792 or 1793 in the case of No. 1, in E flat major). He dedicated the set to Prince Karl Lichnowsky, one of his patrons, who supported him during the initial phase of his career and helped him to mingle with Viennese art lovers. Op. 1 attests to the then 25-year-old pianist and composer’s extraordinary creative skills. The first public performances of the set met with great acclaim and admiration, although Joseph Haydn purportedly advised Beethoven to postpone publishing No. 3, in C minor, pointing out that it was overly challenging for the performers and listeners alike. So, what made the piece come across as surprisingly novel? Was it its division into four movements, the consistent emancipation of the three instruments, or Beethoven’s musical idiom itself? The composer’s singular style is evident in the dramatic opening section (Allegro con brio); the variation second part (Andante cantabile con variazioni); the third movement, a witty minuet, taking the position of the customary scherzo (Menuet. Quasi Allegro); as well as the energetic finale (Finale. Prestissimo). Beethoven’s Piano Trios, Op. 1, would soon enjoy enormous popularity. More publications followed and the pieces would also be subject to arrangement.

Bearing witness to the shift in contemporary audience’s taste and performers’ dexterity is the piano trio by Benjamin Yusupov you will hear tonight. Born in 1962 in Dushanbe, the capital of the former Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, in the 1980s Yusupov studied the piano, composition and conducting at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow. Owing to the political situation in the Soviet Union and his Jewish descent, in 1990 he moved to Israel, where he attended the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, where he received a doctorate. Today, Yusupov is a major Israeli musician, holder of numerous coveted accolades, music director and principal conductor of Israel Soloists. He has worked closely with outstanding soloists, and performed with renowned orchestras worldwide. In the 2014/2015 season, Yusupov was artist-in-residence of the Brno Philharmonic, with whom he also celebrated his 60th birthday, giving the world premiere of his orchestral piece Kreutzer Sonata (Homage to Leoš Janáček). Moreover, he presented in Brno other works of his in Czech premiere, including Piano Trio No. 2, “From Jewish Traditions”, as performed by Trio Bohémo. 

A composer blending a variety of styles and traditions, Benjamin Yusupov employs elements of Jewish, Middle Eastern and Central European music, while also embracing other ethnicities’ heritage and traditional instruments. The secondary title of Piano Trio No. 2, written and premiered in 2018, clearly reveals his having been inspired by Jewish music, with all its attendant geography-related diversity. Accordingly, the first part, Mayn shtetele, is based on a song of Ashkenazi Jews (particularly connected with Central and Eastern Europe); the second movement, La yave de Espanya, is derived from a song of the Sephardim (Iberian Hebrew music); while the third, Esh’al Elohai, is inspired by Yemeni Jewish traditions. A highly inventive composer and excellent pianist, Yusupov imitates the sounds of specific instruments, plays with tone colours, exotic rhythms and melodies, glissandi, clusters, Oriental ornamentation. Yet this “playing” is not an end in itself, with the every opposite being the case – owing to the entire trio’s well-considered structure, the music enraptures even those who have no previous experience with Jewish music and crossover projects.

Just like Ludwig van Beethoven and Benjamin Yusupov, Johannes Brahms was a virtuoso pianist, sought-after conductor and composer. He definitely wrote three piano trios, with another one sometimes, possibly wrongly, attributed to him. When it comes to the Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8, completed in 1854, decades later, in 1889, Brahms significantly revised it yet did not change the opus number. The original version dates from the time when the young composer made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, whom he frequently visited in Düsseldorf, listening to, playing and creating music. Finished in January 1854, the trio was published in November of that year by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. At the time, the Schumanns experienced a tragic twist of events. In February 1854, Robert suffered a mental breakdown, attempted suicide and was admitted to a sanatorium, where he would spend the final two years of his life. Left alone with seven children, Clara, supported by friends, continued to pursue a career as a concert pianist and attend to her late husband’s legacy.

In the late 1880s, at the time a much admired, highly regarded artist and one the most prominent Viennese music figures, the self-critical Brahms revised some of his works. A prime example in this respect is the early Piano Trio in B major, which he subjected to substantial alterations. Brahms markedly compressed the piece, with the revised version’s first and final movements being about 200 bars shorter, and the slow movement reduced by a third. In the new version, he handled the form, themes and counterpoint far more effectively. Brahms completed the revision in the summer of 1889 in Bad Ischl, where he liked to take a break from bustling Vienna. In a letter to Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote that he had reworked the Piano Trio in B major so thoroughly that it could bear the opus number 108. He would, however, retain number 8, and it was published as such in 1891 by Nikolaus Simrock in Berlin, as a “Neue Ausgabe” (“New Edition”). The first movement, Allegro con brio, in sonata form and with a wonderful opening theme, is followed by the second, Scherzo, with just tiny modifications as against the first version, built on rhythmically pregnant staccatos and a melodious middle passage. The third movement, Adagio, is extremely subtle and tranquil. Contrasting starkly with the previous section is the final movement, Allegro, manifesting perfect balance between form and content. The second version of Brahms’s Piano Trio in B major received its premiere in Budapest in 1890, as performed by Brahms (piano), Jenö Hubay (violin) and David Popper (cello).