Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

's ''Trio élégiaque'' No. 2 in

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed ...

, Op. 9 is a

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...

which he began composing on 25 October 1893 and completed on 15 December that year. It was written in memory of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

, and was inscribed with the dedication "In Memory of a Great Artist". It was first performed in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

on 31 January 1894 by Rachmaninoff himself, the violinist

Julius Conus Julius or Jules Conus (russian: Юлий Эдуардович Конюс, ''Yuly Eduardovich Konyus''; 1 February 1869 3 January 1942) was a Russian violinist and composer. Conus was born in Moscow, the son of the pianist Eduard Conus. His br ...

, and the cellist

Anatoli Brandukov Anatoly Andreyevich Brandukov (russian: Анато́лий Андре́евич Брандуко́в) ( – February 16, 1930) was a Russian cellist who premiered many cello pieces of prominent composers including Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Ra ...

Structure

The trio is in three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, taking approximately 50 minutes to perform: This piano trio is similar to Tchaikovsky's '' Trio in A minor'', which was dedicated to

Nikolai Rubinstein Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein (russian: Николай Григорьевич Рубинштейн; – ) was a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer. He was the younger brother of Anton Rubinstein and a close friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tc ...

, in that it follows the same basic structure.

Reception and later revisions

In 1907, Rachmaninoff made cuts and revisions to his writing for a second edition of the work, and in 1917 made further cuts which were incorporated into the 1950

Muzgiz P. Jurgenson (in Russian: П. Юргенсон) was, in the early twentieth century, the largest publisher of classical sheet music in Russia. History Founded in 1861, the firm — in its original form, or as it was amalgamated in 1918 with ...

edition of the piece. According to biographer Barrie Martyn, the work has never achieved much attention, and "has been all but ignored outside of Russia". The

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n pianist

Alan Kogosowski Alan Kogosowski (born 22 December 1962) is an Australian classical pianist. Biography Abraham (Alan) Kogosowski was born in Melbourne to Hanna (née Prager) and Izio (Izzy) Kogosowski. From the age of six he played the piano for ten hours a day. ...

has orchestrated the trio as a piano concerto, called ''Concerto Élégiaque in D minor'', Op. 9b.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links