About this release
Schubert's two piano trios were composed late in his short life (his only trio prior to these is the short B flat trio movement D28 of 1812), probably in late 1827 and the summer of 1828, the year of his death. They are vast works, worthy of Schumann's comment on Schubert's Ninth Symphony of being of 'heavenly length'.
Although structured along similar lines to Beethoven's piano trios, Schubert's trios inhabit a different world
to the older composer's 'Ghost' or 'Archduke' works. Beethoven revelled in drama and complex and ingenious textures. Schubert concentrates instead on beautiful tunes, and eloquent dialogues between the
three players. The music of the Austrian countryside permeates these works, and although they date from
Schubert's last months, they contain little of the world weariness and desolation of Winterreisse, the late
sonatas or the proto-Mahlerian slow movement of the Tenth Symphony D936a. The trios gained popularity soon after their posthumous publication in the 1830s -- and were championed by influential figures such as Schumann and Brahms. D898 benefited from an early gramophone recording in the 1920s by Cortot, Casals and Thibaud.. The Notturno D897 has also proved popular, and started life as the slow movement to D898, but Schubert felt it was too long.
Further information
- Klavier Trio Amsterdam was formed in 1990, and their recording of Mendelssohn's Piano Trios was
praised by International Record Review magazine as 'the best CD of the year 2000'