The Trio for horn, violin, and piano is a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

work by the Australian composer

Don Banks Donald Oscar Banks (25 October 19235 September 1980) was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music. Early life and education Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence. He learned the saxophone as a boy in Aust ...

. It was composed in 1962 and premiered the same year at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

. A performance takes about 15 minutes.

History

The Horn Trio was commissioned by the Edinburgh Festival, and was written especially for hornist

Barry Tuckwell Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell, (5 March 1931 – 16 January 2020) was an Australian French horn player who spent most of his professional life in the UK and the United States. He is generally considered to have been one of the world's leading horn p ...

, violinist

Brenton Langbein Brenton James Langbein, AO (21 January 1928 – 6 June 1993) was an Australian violinist, conductor, and composer. Life Langbein was born on 21 January 1928 in the South Australian town of Gawler to James Langbein, an accomplished pianist who h ...

, and pianist

Maureen Jones Maureen Jones (born 6 June 1927) is an Australian classical pianist. She was born in Sydney and grew up in the Sydney suburbs of Warrawee, Turramurra, and Gladesville. At primary-school age she was invited to study at the Sydney Conservatorium ...

, in part because they were all Australians, like the composer. Tuckwell's virtuosity was particularly important in stimulating the conception of this trio, as well as the Horn Concerto that Banks composed for Tuckwell three years later.

Analysis

The trio is in three movements: # Lento–Allegro moderato # Adagio espressivo # Moderato, scherzando There is some disagreement concerning the compositional techniques employed. While Banks most often employed twelve-tone serial techniques in his concert music, one writer contends that the trio is an exception, while another describes it as

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...

as well as serial. Whatever the technical basis, the work is economically built from a small group of basic ideas, with an emphasis on the descending semitone and a perfect fourth. After a slow introduction, the first movement falls into five main sections: a lyrical first section, a passage of fluctuating tempos featuring muted horn and ''

sul ponticello A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

'' violin, a slow section based on the unifying falling semitone, a horn cadenza, and a reprise of the first main section. The second movement is slow and lyrical, in four sections defined in part by different pairings of the instruments. It opens with a long, flowing idea in the horn, accompanied by the piano. This is followed by a duet for violin and piano, then a ''con fantasia'' cadenza for horn and violin. In the final section, all three instruments sound together at last. The finale is light in mood, in 6/8 time and marked ''scherzando'', but in form is a

rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

with a coda. The episodes develop the slow material from the third section of the first movement. The piano in this movement is marked by many bars of repeated quavers, and functions similarly to the rhythm section of a jazz ensemble.

References

Cited sources

* * * * {{wikicite, ref={{harvid, Żuk, 1997, reference=Żuk, Zbigniew. 1997. "Dedicated to the Brilliant Horn-Soloist Barry Tuckwell". Liner notes to ''Horn Trios''. Zbigniew Żuk, horn; Jan Stanienda, violin; Piotr Folkert, piano. Recorded 18–20 March 1997 in Bydgoszcz Philharmonia Hall. CD recording, 1 disc: 12 cm, digital, stereo. Żuk Records CD 310Bremerhaven: Żuk Records.

History

Analysis

See also

References

Cited sources

Further reading