Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110
About this Piece
The G-minor Trio explores darker, more passionate territory. The opening movement is marked “bewegt” (“agitated”) and there is an intense yearning in the unsettled upward ninth of its principal theme, in which all the stressed notes are dissonant. The development includes a double fugue.
The second movement is a bit like a slow reminiscence of a waltz. Its middle section harks back to the first movement, and indeed is marked “etwas bewegter” (“somewhat more agitated”). The third movement is a rondo with an upward-sweeping principal theme reminiscent of the first movement. The finale, bearing the very Germanic instruction “powerfully and humorously,” springs and bounds, and has a good time poking fun at itself, particularly when it launches into a pompous march in G minor.
Lawyer and lutenist Howard Posner has also annotated programs for the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra and for the Coleman Chamber Concerts.