Piano Trio No. 2 in C, Op. 87

Modern chamber music literature is built on such bedrock as Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, composed in 1882. One might anticipate the impact of the composer’s contemporaneous symphonic projects, which include the Tragic and Academic Festival Overtures (1880), Second Piano Concerto (1881), and Third Symphony (1883). Brahms was also working on several song collections at this time. The trinity of vocal inspiration, symphonic grandeur, and classical sonata-form structure sheds its blessings on the C-major Trio. The first motive may not be the most melodic of themes; indeed, the opening material feels more developmental than presentational. It is almost as if—and this is possible—Brahms conceived the movement’s actual development section first, then wrote the opening passage to fit. He compensates for the beginning’s abstractness by including a more lyrical, subtly chromatic second theme. As the development gets underway Brahms hints at an exposition repeat but quickly veers away into a series of modulations. Toward the close he takes a page from Beethoven in the form of a massive developing coda, so that the entire movement projects a sense of continuous evolution. The second movement, a theme and variations, marches forth in unison on violin and cello. Syncopated chords in the piano and a recurring short-long rhythm enliven the almost funereal severity. Brahms relies on the frequent full-stops inherent in variation form to introduce contrasting moods, especially in the major-mode third variation or the Schubertian fourth, with its brook-like continuous motion. The Scherzo is a danse macabre of utmost agility and delicacy, with a central trio section full of contrasting radiance and songful effusion. Making an apt summary of the entire work, the rousing Finale steps confidently between heroic bravura and chromatically-inflected folk melody.

(c) Jason Stell