The inauguration of the chamber concert series will be an encounter with the Berlin Piano Trio. The ensemble consists of violinist Krzysztof Polonek, concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker, cellist Katarzyna Polonek, winner of international competitions, guest performer with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Staatskapelle Berlin, and pianist Nikolaus Resa, a valued performer and teacher associated with several Berlin institutions. Their performance at the NFM Chamber Hall will feature compositions by Joseph Haydn, Maurice Ravel, and Franz Schubert. Each represents a different style and way of thinking about instruments and their role in musical narrative. Together, these works will create a colourful and varied story told by the piano, violin and cello.

Joseph Haydn represents the era of Classicism. This composer is often called the father of symphony and string quartet, but he also liked to write piano trios. He created as many as forty-five of them, and the Piano Trio in C major Hob. XV:27 ranks forty-third on this list. It is part of three late trios published during the composer’s stay in London in 1797. They were dedicated to Therese Jansen Bartolozzi, an excellent pianist who achieved considerable success in those years. For this reason, the piano part of the Trio in C major is distinguished by a significant degree of difficulty compared to the vast majority of works written for piano trio, primarily with the capabilities of amateur musicians in mind. Despite its short duration, the piece is diverse in its moods. The first movement begins with a solemn introduction, and what stands out here is the virtuosic approach to the piano and violin parts. In the second one, maintained at a moderate tempo, the initial, gentle and singing melody contrasts strongly with the stormy episode in the middle. The finale is a display of Haydn’s typical sense of humour, with inventive dialogues between the violin and piano.

Maurice Ravel’s oeuvre is much smaller than Haydn’s, and the Piano Trio in A minor is his only piano trio. It was created in 1914 and dedicated to the teacher André Gedalge, who introduced Ravel to the secrets of counterpoint. Although the author of Bolero was French, he attached great importance to his Basque roots, which was expressed in the first movement of the Trio in A minor. In the third movement, his passion for early music comes to light – it is a stylisation of Baroque passacaglia. What is also noteworthy is the stunning diversity of articulation means, which translates into the fabulous colours of this work.

The second part of the concert will feature Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, completed in 1828, shortly before the composer’s death. It is a work much more elaborate than the compositions of Haydn and Ravel, a work of almost monumental proportions, a varied and rich tapestry in many colours. It is a testimony to the composer’s enormous melodic inventiveness and his ingenuity in transformations. Occasional changes in mood, such as the section styled after Hungarian music in the second movement, do not disrupt the overall, cheerful and pensive character of this beautiful composition.