Piano Trio (Bernstein)

Piano Trio
by Leonard Bernstein
The composer in 1944
Performed	1937 (1937)
Movements	three
Scoring	Piano, violin, cello

Leonard Bernstein's Piano Trio for piano, violin, and cello was written in 1937 while he was attending Harvard University as a student of Walter Piston. He was influenced by the conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos.[1] Several melodic ideas were recycled for use in later pieces; for example, the opening of the second movement was used later by Bernstein in his first musical, On the Town.[2]

Premiere

The piano trio was premiered in 1937 at Harvard University by the Madison Trio: Mildred Spiegel, Dorothy Rosenberg, Sarah Kruskall.[2] It was published by Boosey & Hawkes.[3] The work takes about 16 minutes to perform.[3]

Movements

The Trio is written in three movements:

1. Adagio non troppo – Più mosso – Allegro vivace
2. Tempo di marcia
3. Largo – Allegro vivo et molto ritmico

Awards

In 2000, the Altenberg Trio's recording of this piano trio won the Edison Award in Amsterdam.[4]

References

1. "Review of Piano Trio Anthology, 2006" by Michael Cookson, musicweb-international.com. Quote: "Bernstein's youthful Piano Trio is uneven in quality but it announces significant potential for the improvements that were to quickly come in his career."
2. "Piano Trio (1937)", leonardbernstein.com Retrieved 24 December 2024.
3. "Piano Trio (1937)", Boosey & Hawkes
4. "Klassiek 2000 – Winnaars". Edison Award. 2000. Retrieved 24 December 2024.

External links

• Andrew Lindemann Malone. Leonard Bernstein: Piano Trio at AllMusic
• Live performance on YouTube, Horszowski Trio, 2022