July / August 2014

Giuseppe Martucci's Piano Trios

Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909), by the time of his death was widely regarded as a fairly important composer of chamber music. Yet, his works are virtually never performed in concert, not even in his native Italy. Martucci spent much of his time trying to bring late German Romanticism to Italy’s sunny shores. But for the most part, the Italians were not interested in Wagner, Brahms and the like. Although Martucci’s name seems not to be entirely unknown, he has joined the ranks of those whose name rings a bell but whose music does not.

A gifted pianist (his playing was said to be admired by Liszt and Anton Rubenstein), conductor and teacher, Martucci composed a fair amount of chamber music at a time when most Italians had little interest in it. Among these works are two piano trios, written between 1882-83, both of the trios are massive works each taking about ¾ of an hour to perform. Piano Trio No.1, Op.59 in C Major opens with a spacious and leisurely Allegro Giusto in which the strings play a lovely theme above the piano. The melodies are gorgeous and the part writing very good indeed in that the strings are not forced to duel with piano, but there is nothing very Italian-sounding about the music. A furious Scherzo follows in which the piano takes the lead. In the short contrasting trio, the melodic material is given to the muted strings. A melancholy cello solo opens the almost painfully lovely Andante con moto, clearly the Trio’s center of gravity. The finale, Allegro risoluto, by use of similar tempi and themes gives the feel of the first three movements without directly quoting. This is a very fine work well worth hearing.

Piano Trio No.2, Op.62 in E Flat Major was written almost immediately after the First. An Allegro, sounding more moderato, introduces a very lyrical and lazy melody. One hears the influence of Brahms. This is a big movement, but there are no small movements in this fine work. Even the Scherzo-Allegro is a massive undertaking. The contrasting trio section is a marvelous other-worldly theme given to the strings over the piano. Next is an Adagio, huge replete with long but lovely themes. In the Finale, Allegro vivace, Martucci produces some very original musical ideas especially in the splendid conclusion to this work. this day and age it is not often that one hears any piano quintet in concert or on the radio, other than those of Schumann, Dvorak and Brahms.

Both of these fine works deserve to be heard in concert and to be played by amateurs as well  You can hear soundbites from both piano trios on our website. The parts to each are available from Edition Silvertrust.