Turnovsky Trio - Debut Recording (MMT2007)

The Turnovsky Trio

Trio No 2 in C Op. 87 Johannes Brahms
1 Allegro (9:41)
2 Andante con moto (8:57)
3 Scherzo (4:52)
4 Finale (allegro giocoso) (6:36)
Trio No 3 in C Minor, Op 1 No 3 Ludwig van Beethoven
5 Allegro con brio (10:15)
6 Andante cantabile con Variazioni (7:59)
7 Menuetto (Quasi Allegro) (3:53)
8 Finale (Prestissimo) (7:57)


Total Duration 60:10
MMT2007 Digital Stereo Recording
© 1996 HRL Morrison Music Trust
P 1996 HRL Morrison Music Trust

Fred Turnovsky - an appreciation by John Button
The late Fred Turnovsky, whose music trust gave the support necessary for the foundation of the trust that bears his name, was one of the most influential figures in the post-war development of music in New Zealand.

Although his achievements in the business world alone would fill volumes, for many it was his love of music and his ability to turn his passionate interest into provocative action that will be most remembered

After arriving in New Zealand with his wife Liselotte from his native Prague in 1940, this sophisticated man must have been shocked at the rudimentary appreciation of the arts he found.

A man of action, he immediately set about impoving things. In 1949 he was a co-founder of the Wellington Chamber Music Society, the beginning of what was to become the New Zealand Federation of Chamber Music Societies, and, thanks to him, those of us who grew up in Wellington in those early years were able to hear the likes of the Smetana Quartet, the Hollywood String Quartet, Julius Katchen and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Today the buoyant New Zealand music scene owes much to him, and the members of the Turnovsky Trio gratefully record their appreciation for his wisdom, knowledge and understanding and financial support, without which they would not have been able to come to gether to make music.

This recording is dedicated to the memory of Fred Turnovsky ONZ, OBE (1916-1994)

 Recorded in Symphony House, Wellington, New Zealand, November 1994

Producer & Engineer John Button
Technical Associate Peter Ramutenas
Editing John Button & Frank Douglas
Design John McDonald
Photography Mark Marriot
Music Notes Lindis Taylor
Executive Producer Russell Armitage

Piano Trio No.2 in C, Op.87
Brahms
The three piano trios of Johannes Brahms span most of his creative life. The first was written in 1853-4 when he was only 20, though it was profoundly revised in 1889; the second was begun in 1880 and completed in 1882, and the third was written in 1886.

Even in its revised version the first is almost twice the length of the third (some 40 minutes, compared with about 23 minutes) while the second trio lasts about half an hour; a graphic illustration of the way in which the maturing composer refined his style and brought economy tto his mode of expression in the course of his lifetime.

The second trio was first performed privately at Alt-Ausee on 25 August 1882 and in public in Frankfurt-am-Main on 29 December of the same year.
The first movement is broadly laid out, its themes set out quietly but with growing energy and seeming to emerge one from another - a sense of disquiet and mystery allternates with passages of glowing warmth.

The heart of the work may well be the rapturous set of variations of the Andante con moto, emplying a theme of heroic mein, cast in the relative key of A minor.

The Scherzo is a tremulous will o’ the wisp interlude for the strings over piano arpeggios, intersected by a sweetly rhapsodic trio.

A dark opening leads in the last movement to a series of protracted melodies that move between bright sunlight and shadows.


Piano Trio No.3 in C minor, Op.1 No.3
Beethoven

In 1793 Beethoven wrote the three trios that were published two years later as his Opus 1. They were dedicated to and first performed in the house of Beethoven’s great patron, Carl Prince Lichnowsky. It is assumed that they were written before the end of 1793 becasue their first performances were in Haydn’s presence, and Haydn left for his second visit to London in January 1794.

Nigel Fortune writes that the first movement of this trio “illustrates the most epoch-making of his creative conquests: the expansion of long-range tonal drama intensified by the nature of the material, dynamic contrast and the generation of momentum”. He says it is Beethoven’s most orignal inspiration so far in his career.

The slow movement is a set of five variations of great lyrical beauty. The last two movements may have a conventional shape but they also exhibit a strength and individuality in melodic ideas and a mature confidence in their handling.

Notes by Lindis Taylor

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