Within the music of Felix Mendelssohn, two aesthetic worlds meet. The thriller and pathos of Romanticism mix with the pristine formal constructs of Classicism. Robert Schumann summarized this distinctive synthesis when he known as Mendelssohn “the Mozart of the nineteenth century, probably the most illuminating of musicians, who sees extra clearly than others by means of the contradictions of our period and is the primary to reconcile them.”
This exceptional synthesis may be heard in Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor. Accomplished in 1845, two years earlier than the composer’s dying on the age of 38, it was the final chamber work that Mendelssohn lived to see revealed. He devoted the rating to the violinist and composer, Louis Spohr, and introduced it to his sister, Fanny, as a birthday reward.
The primary motion (Allegro energico e con fuoco) begins with the hushed suspense of a ghost story. Stressed, tempestuous strains rise and fall in a tense whisper. We encounter one thing just like the mysterious, windswept panorama of The Hebrides. The music is propelled ahead by nervous, undulating strains within the piano which, at moments, leap out in glistening arpeggios. Thirty years later, Johannes Brahms would return to those strains within the finale of his Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60. The primary theme developed from Mendelssohn’s haunting Track With out Phrases, Op. 102, No. 1. The second theme arrives in a sudden, triumphant burst earlier than drifting off into moments of mild repose. There are thrilling homages to the architectural counterpoint of J.S. Bach, with outer voices unfolding in mirror picture. Within the coda, the persistent opening motif may be heard at two charges of pace, concurrently (9:15). The music surges in the direction of its remaining cadence with ferocious ardour.
The second motion (Andante espressivo) enters the world of tune with a young lullaby. Its rocking movement has reminded some listeners of Mendelssohn’s Track With out Phrases, Op. 19, No. 6 (“Venetian Boat Songs”).
The fleeting Scherzo takes us to the magical, nocturnal fairy world of A Midsummer Evening’s Dream. Mendelssohn acknowledged that, technically, this scurrying music could be “a trifle nasty to play.” With pizzicato, the ultimate bars fade into the shadows of the forest.
The Finale (Allegro appassionato) takes a journey from the tempestuous anxiousness of the opening motion to triumphant C main. Alongside the way in which comes a hovering citation of the Lutheran chorale melody, Gelobet seist Du, Jesu Christ, generally recognized in English as Previous Hundredth.
I. Allegro energico e con fuoco:
II. Andante espressivo:
III. Scherzo. Molto allegro quasi presto:
IV. Finale. Allegro appassionato:
