Contemporary Classics June 9, 2020 Contemporary Violin, Clarinet and Piano Trios

This week on Contemporary Classics we are featuring several examples of Violin, Clarinet and Piano Trios from the 20th and 21st Centuries

Octavio Vazquez: Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano “Zeitgeist”

Octavio Vazquez is a Spanish composer who now teaches at the Nazareth College of Rochester, NY, where he directs the composition program. The Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano has two movements moderato and allegro.

Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio with support from Michigan State University, for their 40th Anniversary Concert Premiered on June 25, 2013, Cobb Great Hall at the Wharton Center, Michigan State University College of Music, by the Verdehr Trio

Commenting on this piece, Octavio Vazquez says that our view of our life is the accumulation of stories that we collect through out lives.  But to get to  the essence of who we are we need to strip away these stories,  That is what this piece is about.  Transcending the stories of our lives and even transcending the concept of time.

Sy Brandon: Lest We Forget by

Lest We Forget was inspired by the approach of Memorial Day 2006 but has evolved into a composition with a more encompassing vision. The work was originally conceived to depict the horrors of war and to pay tribute to those who served and gave their lives so that freedom can endure. The conception expanded to include the horrors of natural disasters, the destruction of lives and property, and ability of humans to endure and rebound from the depths of despair. In essence, the piece is about the fragility of human life and the triumph of the spirit. The composition is in three movements - I. Fury II. Devastation III. Triumph of the Spirit  

William Balcom: Trio for Clarinet, Violin, & Piano

In four movements I. Twist of Fate  II. Mazurka   III. Apotheosis    IV. Dithyramb

Sylvie Bodorová:  Vallja e malit - Dancing Mountain

Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová has written a trio for violin, clarinet and piano called  Vallja e malit - Dancing Mountain.  Written in 2017 it is in two movements Ballata & Danza and was recorded in 2018 by Trio Clavio - Lucie Soutorová Valčová, piano; Lucia Fulka Kopsová, violin; Jana Černohouzová, clarinet

Galina Ustvolskaya: Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano

This was an early work written by her in 1949 when she was a student of Dmitri Shostakovich.  He was so taken by this work he proposed marriage to her (which she refused) and included a theme from the third movement of this work in two of his more personal works the Fifth Quartet in1952 and the song "Night" from his late Michelangelo Sonnets written in 1974. Ustvolskaya’s harmonic structure wanders between the tonal and the atonal.  But in addition, her rejection of easily identifiable musical forms separates her music from the typical structural and temporal references so familiar in western music.  The work is in three movements Espressiv, Dolce &  Energico.