Piano Trio

In 1880, the 18-year-old Claude Debussy was engaged to serve as the house pianist of Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy Russian widow who was an important patron of Tchaikovsky. During the fall of that year, while residing in Florence with the von Meck household, Debussy composed a piano trio, undoubtedly motivated by the imminent arrival of a Russian cellist, Pyotr Danilchenko, who could perform it with him and the other resident musician, Władysław Pachulski, a Polish violinist. The manuscript was lost for many decades, but scores to the four movements gradually came to light and were eventually assembled. Long dismissed as a forgettable piece of juvenilia, the Piano Trio is increasingly recognized as an important early example of Debussy’s genius at incorporating and synthesizing the various influences that would shape his musical personality, combining the stylistic tendencies of contemporary French composers with elements from Russian music and beyond.

The first movement alternates between passages in triple and duple meter, with a gently flowing character. Labeled “Scherzo-Intermezzo,” the second movement reflects the three-part form of a scherzo with delicate balletic outer sections surrounding a longer and more lyrical interlude. The slow third movement features the interplay between the two string instruments, with a middle section that incorporates all three musicians. The finale sounds like the music of Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann reflected through a French lens. In a lilting 6/8 meter throughout, the music swells and recedes, propelled along by the relentless rhythmic energy of the initial theme.

— Michael Strasser