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

'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 European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

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 ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

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

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on 31 January 1894 by Rachmaninoff himself, the violinist Julius Conus, and the cellist Anatoli Brandukov.

Structure

The trio is in three

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

, 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 (; – ) was a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer. He was the younger brother of Anton Rubinstein and a close friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Life Born to Jewish parents in Moscow, where his father ...

; it follows the same basic structure.

Reception and later revisions

In 1907, Rachmaninoff cut and revised the work for a second edition, and in 1917, he 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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n pianist

Alan Kogosowski Alan Kogosowski (born 22 December 1952) 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. ...

orchestrated the trio as a piano concerto, ''Concerto Élégiaque in D minor'', Op. 9b. This is recorded with Alan Kogosowski, pianist, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi: ''Rachmaninov: Transcriptions for Orchestra'', also including Dumbravaneau's orchestration of ''[Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op, 42'', and Rachmaninov's orchestral version of ''Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14'', Chandos CHAN 9261 (1994).

References

Citations

Sources

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External links