Evening Kathy. I think NY is turning into Alaska.
Franz Joseph Haydn wrote 104 trios for piano, violin and cello, making him the inventor of this genre. The cello in a Haydn trio backs the piano in a harmonic imitation of the harpsichord continuo role from the Baroque era, so cellists don’t get all that excited about playing a Haydn trio. These trios are sensible music for sensible people, and each of them is a little gem. Saturday night’s opener is Haydn’s Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in C, Hob. XV:27.
This video is a performance of the Trio Gaspard from the Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Weimar, Germany. Look at the sheer joy and exuberance these people experience in playing this piece. These folks won first prize. The pianist is Chinese, the violinist is Polish, and the cellist is an American whose parents must have been hippies. Check out her full name. Catch the improvisation on the piano at 13:17; Haydn just provides a fermata in the score and tells the pianist to ad lib.