Description

Trio I was written in 1983, and it is dedicated to the ensemble that gave its first performance on March 29th of the same year: American clarinetist Steven Kanoff and Finnish cello-piano-duo Anssi Karttunen and Tuija Hakkila.

The piece consists of three movements, which have quite different characters. The first one is the shortest and the fastest. It bears the tempo marking Presto, and its general dynamic level is very low, the music running ahead with utmost virtuosity but very silently. The second movement, Adagio, is based on a couple of broadly singing melodies, and thus it belongs to the large category of simple, nocturno-like slow movements. But some of its textural solutions give it a paradoxically grotesque atmosphere. The Finale, Poco allegro, has two different types of texture, which dominate the scenery one after the other. The ending combines different ideas from the preceding movements in a prestissimo tempo.

© Jouni Kaipainen, after 1983

Instrumentation

cl, vlc, pno

Category

Chamber Works

Opus no.

op.21

Premiere Fp: Steven Kanoff, clarinet, Anssi Karttunen, cello, Tuija Hakkila, piano, Helsinki, April 2, 1983

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