Schubert: The Piano Trios & ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata

Schubert:

• Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, D898

• Notturno in E flat major for piano trio, D897 (Op. post.148)

• Piano Trio movement in B flat major, D28

• Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D929

• Sonata in A minor ‘Arpeggione’, D821

Performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio: Sharon Robinson (violoncello), Joseph Kalichstein (piano) & Jaime Laredo (violin)

When I first moved to California in 1967 to work for the IBM Company, music was a great way to move into social situations, as well. As such, I decided to form a piano trio, so that we’d have an opportunity to play some of the masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. One of the engineers at IBM who was a crack microcode wizard turned out to play the Cello. We got to talking, and he told me that he had a friend who played the piano. Boom! That did it! We had a Trio!

Right around that time, my second son was born, and I bought my first California home in Cupertino. Once things settled down, and our home had some drapes, I invited my friend from IBM and his pianist friend, and off we went. We played the famous Mendelssohn Trio Op. 49, as well as the Mozart and Beethoven piano trios. And Schubert’s two trios were my great favorites.

In this recording, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is heard in all of Schubert’s music for Piano Trio – the two great masterpieces (the B-flat and E-flat Trios), as well as the rarely played “Sonatensatz” and Notturno. In addition, Sharon Robinson, Cello, and Joseph Kalichstein, piano, perform the lovely “Arpeggione” Sonata.

Here is the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio performing the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor

Here is another group performing the Schubert trio no.2 op 100, slow movement

Amazing, Huh?

Here’s another group playing the same movement, Andante con moto: Performed by the Trio Wanderer

Tags: Schubert, piano trios, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio