Summer Concert 5: Lomonosov Piano Trio

Rachmaninoff did not write his cello sonata in 1901, but thanks to hypnosis. Prior to this, the doctor and hypnotist Nikolai Dahl had freed him from a serious creative crisis with the help of hypnotherapy. The late Romantic cello sonata is now one of the most beautiful works ever written for this instrumentation. In his sonata, Rachmaninoff succeeded in composing a piece in which the piano and cello are equally weighted and communicate with each other. The 3rd Piano Trio in C minor by Johannes Brahms plays with the folk tone in art music in a sophisticated way. The allusions in the 1st and 4th movements of the trio range from echoes of the Viennese waltz to the Hungarian Csárdás. The 3rd movement can be seen as a small highlight in Brahms' play with musical forms, ingeniously parodying the salon music of his time and masterfully turning its trivialities into an art form. The premiere of the work naturally took place in Budapest, the stronghold of the csárdás. Tchaikovsky was present and did not like the trio at all, which he did not want to hide from Brahms. The impending embarrassment was saved by a third important composer who had nevertheless attended the performance: Edvard Grieg. It was thanks to him that the gunpowder smoke dissipated and the situation ultimately turned into a cheerful evening. Admission is free, donations are requested. Maria Lomonosova-Ziegler (violin), Matthias Heinrich (violoncello) and Pavel Kashcheva (piano) will perform.