Program
Josef Suk
Piano Trio in C minor, Op.2
Lili Boulanger
Deux Pièces en Trio
Camille Saint-Saëns
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 92
Neave Piano Trio
Since its formation in 2010, the Neave Trio has earned enormous praise for its engaging, cutting-edge performances. The Neave has performed at many esteemed concert series and at festivals worldwide, including Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and the Samoylov and Rimsky Korsakov Museums’ Chamber Music Series. They have held residency positions at Brown University, University of Virginia, Bard College, San Diego State University, and many other institutions.
Program Notes
Josef Suk (1874-1935)
Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2
Performance time: 15’
In 1874 the Chicago fire burned 47 acres of the city; first public zoo opens in Philadelphia.
Josef Suk (1874-1935)
Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist. From a young age he was trained in music by his father, Josef Suk Sr., who was the village choirmaster. His exceptional talent allowed him to be enrolled at the Prague Conservatory at age 11 where he first focused on violin. Eventually, he became a composition student of Antonin Dvořák and a friend of his family. In 1898 Josef married Dvořák’s daughter, Otile.
While he was at the Conservatory, he formed the world-famous Bohemian (Czech) Quartet with three of his fellow students and played second violin in the Quartet for most of his life. From 1922 Suk taught at the Prague Conservatory and served as its Director several times after 1924.
An odd and interesting note on Suk’s achievements is his winning an Olympic silver medal for music at the 1932 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Art competitions (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture) for works inspired by sport-related themes were part of the program from 1912 to 1952.
The Op. 2 Piano Trio was initially composed while Suk was still a student (age 14-15). It was changed numerous times as he showed it to his teachers and accepted their recommendations. Its first public performance was in 1891 at the Conservatory.
The main theme in the opening Allegro is expressed by a dramatic series of piano chords against a striving melody in the strings. The slower second theme, introduced by the cello, is more lyrical. The second movement, Andante, is a relaxed and elegant folk dance followed by a very romantic second theme. The final movement, Vivace, is a highly original and syncopated dance with a driving energy followed by a march.
Click here for a performance of Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2 by the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Trio.
Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
Deux Pieces en Trio
Performance time: 15’
In 1893 the World’s Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago/debut of Ferris wheel and Cracker Jack; New Zealand becomes first country to grant woman suffrage.
Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
Marie-Juliette Olga “Lili” Boulanger was born in 1893 into a musical family. Her father, Ernest Boulanger, 77 years old when she was born, was a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire and had won the Prix de Rome for composition. Lili’s grandfather on her father’s side had been a noted cellist and her grandmother was a singer.
Lili’s older sister, Nadia Boulanger, became a very influential teacher who had a remarkable impact on the development of modern music composition. Nadia was also the first woman to conduct many major orchestras in America and Europe. Lili herself was a musical prodigy, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome for composition, and did so at age 19. Her musical accomplishments probably would have eclipsed those of her older sister had she not died at 24. After Lili died, Nadia stopped composing because she felt that Lili’s gifts as a composer exceeded hers.
At the age of 6 Lili had developed bronchial pneumonia which weakened her immune system and from which she never fully recovered. She