MARK RAPHAEL (Baritone)
THE PIRANI TRIO:
LEILA PIRANI (Violin); CHARLES HAMBOURG
(Violoncello) ; MAX PIRANI (Pianoforte)
The two Pianoforte Trios are Schubert at his very best, the Schubert of the big C Major and the 'Unfinished' Symphony. The first main tune of the first movement of number two is emphatically set forth at the very outset by all the instruments in unison; the second, when it appears, in a soft whisper at first, is in striking contrast to it, and the whole long movement is built up in the most interesting way on these two.
The slow movement is among the most beautiful things in the whole domain of chamber music. Beginning with a steady march rhythm, it has a tune of profound sadness which merges gradually into a mood of strength and vigour to return at the end to a slower version of the opening.
The Scherzo is a Canon which the pianoforte begins and the violin and violoncello together imitate at the distance of one bar, with a vigorous Trio in the middle as contrast.
The last movement, long and lovingly worked out, begins with a sprightly tune which soon becomes bold and energetic, making way afterwards for a second main tune which runs about lightly on repeated notes. The movement is full of interest and not the least of its charms is the way in which Schubert uses little snatches of both tunes. Towards the end the sad march theme of the slow movement is heard again in a new rhythm, but now it leads to a major close with a wonderful sense of strength and exaltation.
DISTINGUISHED representative though he is of modern
Spanish music, de Falla owes something also to France, where he made his home from 1907 until the outbreak of the Great War, enjoying the friendship of Delius and all the great French masters of that day, Ravel, Dukas, and their disciples. It was his opera La Vida Breve which, in 1905, first won for him the world-wide reputation which he enjoys, and the best known works which have followed it are El Amor Brujo, The Three-cornered Hat, and the Nights in the Garden of Spain. He has made public his own views on modem music, and no better clue to an understanding of his aims and ideals could well be found than such extracts from his writings as, for instance, 'It is a widespread error, the belief that
.modernity in music depends on the prodigality of harmonic dissonances,' and ' The modern spirit resides mostly in the three fundamental elements of importance, rhythm, modality, and melody. This does not mean that the harmonic discoveries have only a relative value; their value is absolute and great, but not unique.' The folk-lore element can be discerned in most of de Falla's music, distinctively national as it is in many of its characteristics.