Judith Weir

Piano Trio

Score and Parts.
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. First performance 19 May 1998, Merkin Concert Hall, New York City.
Quoting Weir: 'In my previous work, I have often enjoyed inventing titles which attempt to encapsulate the particular world of each composition, but this fifteen minutes piece for violin, cello and piano is simply entitled Piano Trio. What is the reason for this unusually abstract description? I think perhaps that in this piece, the many external impressions which habitually make up my musical world have become too numerous and too personal to be pinned down in the space of few words that a composition title allows.
The first movement began in my mind with impressions of Venice as relayed in Schubert's song Gondelfahrer; the crisp midnight air, the dark choppy water, the bells tolling, the gondolier alone in emotional turmoil. Schubert's world is a place where I can find constant inspiration and strength.
The second movement recalls a time when I was called from a phone box in Africa. At one moment I was alone in my room, the next (or so it seemed in my imagination) surrounded by light, heat and sudden energy and activity. The movement is not, however, an evocation of African music; it takes the form of a scherzo and trio, which collide with each other at the movement's conclusion.
The third movement formed in my mind whilst I was reading some Gaelic poetry from the Hebridean island of Lewis on Scotland 's far flung Atlantic fringe. I was thinking of the bleached white beaches in that part of the world, where every object lying on the sand - a washed-up bottle or a bird's skeleton - is a major event in a deserted landscape. The same might be said of this short set of musical variations, where melodic fragments are laid out with plenty of space around them, clear and plain for everyone to hear.