Day 27: Mozart Trio in E flat

Day 27: Mozart Trio in E flat

Picture to follow!

Now this is something that doesn’t appear very often in my CD collection, I’ve noticed: Chamber music. This on appears to have been on the cover of the BBC Music Magazine, so there must have been something that appealed to me, as I don’t ever remember buying said magazine!

This particular trio was written for clarinet, viola and piano, and is in three movements: Andante – Minuet & Trio – Rondo. This was apparently unusual, as a first movement would normally be faster. This movement is also unusual in that the second theme is quite clearly developed from the first theme and thus gives the movement the sound of being almost monothematic. Also, the second movement is unusual in that the trio is almost twice the length of the minuet. It’s as if Mozart wants this to be the emotional core of the whole work. In accordance with convention, the key of the rondo is E flat, the same as the opening movement, but, unusually for Mozart, it is a 7 part rondo.

The recording I listened to was of a live performance at the Californian SummerFest La Jolla, 1999.