Old Things in New Light: Powerful Piano Trios

Collaborating as a trio for the first time, violinist Emily Kruspe (principal second violin, NAC Orchestra), cellist Julia MacLaine (assistant principal cellist, NAC Orchestra) and pianist Carson Becke present a program that combines two well-loved trios by Beethoven and Brahms with a newer work by the Toronto-based composer Christos Hatzis.  All three of these pieces are about the relationship between old and new.  The final movement of Beethoven's effortlessly joyful trio takes a melody from an opera that was incredibly popular at the time (by the now totally forgotten composer Joseph Weigl) and recasts it in a set of playful variations.  Christos Hatzis's Old Photographs evokes the nostalgia of looking through old family photo albums, and contemplating the distance between the present day and the past.  Finally, Johannes Brahms's monumental first piano trio was written when the composer was just 20, but was then substantially revised in 1889 when he was 56.  The result is truly unique: a young man's ideas, heard  through the filter of an older man's lifetime of experience.  

Music:

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Piano Trio in B flat major, op. 11

Christos Hatzis:
Old Photographs

Johannes Brahms:
Piano Trio no. 1 in B major, op. 8