Product Description

Over the centuries, the piano trio has gained a repertoire of exceptional size and richness; works written for this genre include some of the greatest of all chamber works. The first study devoted solely to the piano trio, this book reviews the development of the trio in different countries within the context of general music history, and shows how it has reflected changes in style and technique from Mozart and Haydn to the avant-garde composers of today. Smallman focuses on the principal works in the trio repertoire, and provides clear analytical descriptions supplemented by musical examples.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1189149 in Books
• Published on: 1992-03-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review

"The first book devoted entirely to the genre of the piano trio....There is much for specialist and layman alike on each page of this valuable book."--Piano Quarterly
"Not only the first word on its subject, but also the last word."--Times Literary Supplement
"A book which fills a substantial gap ....Intelligently researched and literate, without obfuscation or pedantic display....Avoiding the mere listing which often passes for learning in this kind of subject, it discriminates with a deft turn of phrase and usefully sorts things out."--Musical Times
"Uniquely valuable both for its historical and for its contemporary coverage. It is at once well organized, concise, interesting, and musicologically sound."--Choice

About the Author
Basil Smallman is at Liverpool University.

Customer Reviews

An interesting guide, but not comprehensive
Smallman traces the history of the piano trio, that is, chamber music written for the pianoforte and two other instruments, from its origins in the eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. He points out how the first two great composers whose trios remain in the repertory, Haydn and Mozart, followed essentially different paths with regard to the genre, the former developing the old-fashioned concept of the accompanied keyboard sonata to its ultimate peak in his superb late trios, the latter aiming for a new type of collaborative style between three independent instruments. The main musical problem, as Smallman implies but does not explicity state in a useful chapter on basic trio-writing technique, is that the piano quickly evolved into such a massive and tonally powerful instrument that composers since Beethoven have been hard-pressed to maintain equality between it and two other, much weaker instruments.

As can be seen from the above description, Smallman aims at a discussion of broad themes and topics as much as a chronological survey. While his technique of grouping compositions together by topic, within broadly chronological chapters, is usually successful, it results in some odd omissions: surely Vincent d'Indy's monumental Trio in B-flat for Piano, Clarinet and Cello is worth some detailed description, particularly since its composer is mentioned several times in other contexts. The last chapters on the twentieth century seem sketchy and unduly if understandably weighted toward composers from the United Kingdom. Still, any successive authors on this topic will be hard put to surpass the skill with which Smallman has surveyed and ordered this genre of classical music.