Piano Trio Rarities

Schubert Notturno in E flat major, Op. 148
Esmail ‘Saans’
Hidgon Piano Trio No. 1
Shostakovich Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 8
Brahms Piano Trio in C major, Op. 87

Carmine Lauri violin
Peter Adams cello
Russell Hirshfield piano

Love courses through this programme of chamber music delicacies played by two principal string players from the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, joined by the eminent American pianist Russell Hirshfield. When Shostakovich wrote his first piano trio, he was smitten; his longing for a fellow student peers out from behind the trio’s yearning melodies. ‘You won’t have heard such a beautiful trio from me,’ wrote Brahms to his publisher of his own C major trio, a work that could easily sweep you off your feet. Reena Esmail wrote her own piano trio Saans as a wedding gift for a close friend, while the sublime slowness of Schubert’s nocturne for piano trio could easily accompany a tryst. No less beauteous is Jennifer Higdon’s trio exploring whether colours and their shades can be reflected in music.