Season 9 – 2025/26
“Magisterra At The Museum”
“Masterworks - Piano Trios”
March 5, 2026
Program Notes
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
(1770 - 1827)
Trio in E flat major op. 1, 1 (1795)
for violin, cello, and piano
Allegro
Adagio cantabile
Scherzo. Allegro assai
Finale. Presto
Ludwig van Beethoven is undoubtedly one of the most prominent composers, celebrated for advancing the trajectory of Western art music by bridging the gap between the Classical period and the Romantic period in his innovative works. Born in Bonn, Germany, in 1770, Beethoven began his piano studies at a young age, before receiving assistance and funding from nobility to study composition with the acclaimed Austrian composer, Joseph Haydn. With Haydn, he was equipped with a better understanding of classical music forms and thematic development which contributed to his remarkable contribution to the advancement of classical music.
Haydn was in the audience of a private gathering at the residence of Prince Karl Lichnowsky, whom Beethoven dedicated the Trio in E-flat major to, along with two other piano trios. This Trio is Beethoven’s compositional debut, having begun working on drafts of the trio in Bonn and completed the Trio in Vienna after his study with Haydn.
The addition of the third movement (“scherzo”) was uncommon and was an attempt by Beethoven to develop the musical form of piano trios to being more akin to a four-movement string quartet or symphony. The trio encompasses the compositional style of both the classical (Mozartian) and romantic period. It began to deviate from a piano-dominant trio with simpler and transparent strings accompaniment to holding equal importance to the piano by allowing the display of virtuosity and expressivity.
The first movement opens with a grand chord followed by ascending staccato arpeggios that sets a spirited and grand character and follows the trajectory of the sonata form for the opening movement, which demonstrates Beethoven’s familiarity and proficiency with utilizing well-established musical forms even in as a young composer. The second movement epitomizes Beethoven’s compositional style which encompasses elements from both classical and romantic period. It begins with a lyrical and peaceful theme stated by the piano, which is continued and expanded by the violin and cello. This movement is especially Mozartian, in which every return of the main theme on the piano is varied through ornamentation and embellishment.
The Scherzo third movement does away with the more elegant and daintier Minuet, which is the more common musical form for third movements. The motif of the Scherzo is peculiar as it trifles with a minor mode and swiftly changes back to the major mode. The motif is passed between the three instruments which becomes a more vigorous and playful triple-meter dance. This is contrasted by a quieter and flowing trio section. The fourth and final movement is energetic and buoyant with leaping and staccato eighth notes which is interjected by scalic running passages. The first and fourth movements of this trio share the Haydnesque humour, in which the material are playful, lively and virtuosic.
Program Notes by Cordelia Poon
Kelly-Marie MURPHY
(b. 1964)
“Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly” (1997)
for violin, cello, and piano
Praised for her imaginative and expressive compositional voice, Dr. Kelly-Marie Murphy is a Canadian composer born in 1964, in Sardinia, Italy to Canadian parents. She began studying composition with William Jordan and Allan Bell at the University of Calgary before completing a PhD in composition where she studied with Philip Wilby at the University of Leeds, England.
Murphy has won numerous awards and prizes even during her days as a composition student, including first prize in the string quartet category in the CBC’s Young Composer’s Competition in 1994, first prize Centara Corporation Composer’s Competition in 2003 for her harp concerto, and the winner of the Vancouver Bach Choir Choral Composition Competition in 2021. As one of the most prolific female composers in Canada, she has created works for the most prominent performers and ensembles across Canada. She served as the composer-in-residence for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada between 2006 and 2008, and composed works for Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Gryphon Trio, and Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets, etc.
The Gryphon Trio commissioned and recorded the violin, cello and piano trio, Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly. The work was composed between March and September 1997 which was made possible through receiving a grant from the Laidlaw Foundation, which was then performed at the Debut Atlantic concert series.
Murphy drew inspiration from her fascination with the myth of the Phoenix, in which it sacrifices itself in fire and re-emerges from its own ashes. Murphy also identifies two poems that influence the creation of this trio.
The first of which is by John Keats:
“But when I am consumed in the fire
Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire.”
The second by Robert Graves:
“To bring the dead to life
Is no great magic.
Few are wholly dead:
Blow on a dead man’s embers
And a live flame will start.”
For Murphy, the myth of the Phoenix is an emblem for the precariousness of life and the resilience individuals can have to recover from setbacks and move forward.
Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly is composed of three movements, each representing a separate phase of the myth of the Phoenix. The first represents fire; it is fierce with rapid patterns that are passed between all three instruments with increasing intensity which culminates at the end of the movement and the piano’s strong low note leads immediately into the second movement. The second movement represents bleak devastation and the last few embers that are present and glowing before extinguishing. It has a more soloist and improvisatory character as it is written without meter. The third movement represents rebuilding, in which the elements of an individual that continue to persist after the devastation frantically attempt to re-emerge from the ashes to become stronger than before. This is represented by the short and rapid patterns that are played in immediate succession between the violin and cello, including fast slides, running passages and the rapid pizzicato exchange.
Program Notes by Cordelia Poon
Joaquin TURINA
(1882 - 1949)
Trio No. 2 in b minor, Op. 76 (1933)
for violin, cello, and piano
Lento - Allegro molto moderato
Molto vivace
Lento - Andante mosso - Allegretto
In early 20th century Spain, the prolific composer Joaquin Turina consolidated the characteristics of Spanish music through his compositions for all musical genres, including symphonic music, piano, ballet, and chamber music. Turina was born in 1882 in Seville, Spain. He began studying piano with Enrique Rodríguez and composition with Evaristo Garcia Torres in his hometown after abandoning his family’s wishes for him to study medicine. In 1902, Turina studied piano with José Trago at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música, in which he developed a greater affinity and drew inspiration from orchestral and chamber works. He furthered his compositional studies in Paris between 1905 and 1914 at the Schola Cantorum de Paris under Vincent d’Indy, who was a former student of César Franck.
Needless to say, Turina incorporates compositional techniques of César Franck, such as the cyclic form, to create unity across multi-movement works. His works also have traces of French impressionism due to the encouragement and influences of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Due to his French musical education, Turina took little interest in the music of his native Spain. It was not until the performance in Paris of his first published work, Piano Quintet in G Minor, in which a fellow Spanish composer, Isaac Albéniz, convinced Turina on promoting the music of Spain and the importance of patriotism. He then returned to Madrid, Spain in 1914, working as a pianist, composer, and conductor of the Ballet Russes and the Theatro Real. Furthermore, Turina was awarded the National Music Prize and became a professor of composition at the Madrid Royal Conservatory in 1931.
Continuing his work as a composer after his appointment, he wrote the Trio No. 2 in b minor in 1933, which is the second of his three mature piano trios. The trio features three movements that utilizes well-established classical and romantic period traditions of the piano trio form. The first movement opens with a slow chromatic passage which the violin and cello play in unison and immediately leads into a sweeping melody that is filled with agitation and urgency. The instability gives way to a more sentimental theme that is passed between the violin and cello. The agitated sweeping first theme returns at the end of the first movement with the addition of more virtuosic passages that leads to an assertive and vigorous ending.
The Scherzo second movement is written in a 5/8-time signature which epitomizes the Spanish dance character. The violin and cello exchanges a scurrying theme over a more stable and lyrical chordal passage provided by the piano. This rapid scherzo is briefly interrupted by a more flowing trio, in which the violin and cello play in rhythmic unison. The scurrying theme returns and ends with a brighter and livelier character. The third movement opens with a stately and assertive theme. César Franck’s cyclic form is evident in this movement in which themes from previous movements are echoed but are now presented in a different manner that builds onto each other in intensity and reaches a striking conclusion.
Program Notes by Cordelia Poon
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833 - 1897)
Trio No. 1 in B major, op. 8 (1854 - 1889)
for violin, cello and piano
Allegro con brio
Scherzo. Allegro molto
Adagio
Finale. Allegro
Johannes Brahms, born in Hamburg, Germany in 1833, was one of the most illustrious and prolific composers of the Romantic period. His works often exhibited skillful blending of balanced and traditional forms of the classical period, and the modern rhythmic and harmonic complexity and bold colours of romanticism. He was recognized as an accomplished and virtuosic pianist at a young age yet coming from a humble background he worked various jobs such as giving piano lessons, performing popular music at local hospitality establishments, and arranging music for different ensembles.
The piano trio no. 1 in B major was first published in 1854 and was picked up again by Brahms 35 years later in 1889 to publish a revised version of the trio. As a young 21-year-old composer, Brahms was eager for his piano trio to live up to the public’s expectations that had been placed on him by his mentor, Robert Schumann. Meeting and gaining mentorship from both Robert and Clara Schumann less than a year prior, and Robert Schumann’s institutionalization had a great impact on Brahms as a young composer. In the 1854 edition, Brahms embraces the vitality of his youthfulness with moments of uninhibited passion juxtaposing it.
Brahms, as a fierce self-critic always strived to hone his craft and to perfect his compositions. He therefore made substantial revisions to the trio, trimming the uninhibited youthfulness exhibited in the original trio so that it is more musically balanced and coherent and “not be so dreary as before”, and consequently the revised version is a third shorter in duration compared to the original edition. Destruction of his own compositions was a habit of Brahms due to his fierce self-criticism. However, we would be mistaken to regard the revised edition to be superior to the 1854 edition because Brahms did not destroy it and did “not claim that the new version is good!”
Brahms did not tamper with the majestic and sublime melody that is first presented by the piano and continued by the cello in the first movement. This is then contrasted by a rhythmical, dramatic and anxious development. In the first movement, Brahms explored tenderness and vitality of his youth with warm majestic melodic lines, and turbulent developments that are both reflections of his youth as an older and more experienced composer. The second movement, Scherzo, was the only movement of this trio that Brahms did not make any alterations. It begins with a percussive yet mysterious motif that is passed between all the instruments, which develops into a more embellished and dramatic theme. This then gives way to a warmer and lush contrasting middle section that provides a glimpse of hopefulness and yearning through a flowing lyrical melody that is presented by the piano and subsequently the cello and violin.
The third movement is stable and tranquil that juxtaposes the instability and soaring melodies of the previous movements. A middle section that features an eloquent lyrical melody is presented by the cello. This movement is a quiet introspection and reflection of the emotional world of the young Brahms. The fourth and final movement begins on a restless and troubled melody from the cello that builds up in intensity to evoke a tragic drama. A return to a more majestic melody in the work’s original key of B major never arrives. It is instead met with a tragic and turbulent ending.
Program Notes by Cordelia Poon
