THE NEW LONDON TRIO :
DAVID WISE (violin); NORINA SEMINO (violoncello) ; JOHN PAUER (pianoforte)
PETER DAWSON (baritone)
Brahms composed twenty-four chamber works, ranging from sonatas for clarinet and piano to string sextets, all of which are the finished products of his genius. Professor Tovey suggests that these works only represent a quarter of what Brahms composed, since the composer destroyed innumerable works that he did not consider worthy of publication .
The second of Brahms's three piano trios, in C major, was written in 1882, and therefore represents the terse, concentrated, and dramatic Brahms of his last period. The first three of the four movements are designed on a big almost epic scale, while the finale is concise in form and pointed in expressive qualities. Writing of the first movement, Professor Tovey says that ' the style is grandly energetic with deep shadows of mystery, the mystery of nature rather than romance '.