After the Bolshoi's artists performed a spectacular ballet and
opera show to open the Year of Russia in China on March 21, a
number of Russian artists will tour China with a variety of
programs.
While Beijing's theatre-goers had a blast watching the comedy
"Even A Wise Man Stumbles" performed by the State Academy Maly
Drama last week, classical music fans will also look forward to the
concert by the acclaimed Moscow Rachmaninov Trio at the Forbidden
City Concert Hall on Friday night.
The Trio will then fly down to southern China, performing in
Shanghai on April 2, Nanjing on April 4, Hangzhou on April 7 and
Guangzhou on April 9 for a final show.
The program of the China tour includes Schubert's "Piano Trio No
2 in E Major" and Rachmaninov's famous "Trio Elegiaque No 2 in D
Minor."
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) composed the "Trio Elegiaque No 2
in D Minor" in 1893 in memory of his lamented predecessor
Tchaikovsky.
It is said when Rachmaninov was around 13, he mingled with the
great composers of Russia, notably Tchaikovsky who had a profound
influence on him. Caught up in the fever of composing his first
symphony, Rachmaninov wrote the first "Trio Elegiaque" in just
three days, between January 18-21, 1892.
The "Trio Elegiaque No 2 in D Minor" truly is, as the title
suggests, very elegiac in nature. It is quite evident that
Rachmaninov was going through a tough period as Tchaikovsky
mentioned to Natalya Skalon in a letter that "he trembled for every
phrase, sometimes crossed out absolutely everything and began to
think and think about it all over again."
The piece begins in an extremely melancholic manner as the cello
takes its long bow-strokes in a minor key. It seems that when any
composer writes in D minor, the tragic nature of the work is truly
accentuated. And this Trio for piano, cello and violin clearly
shows the pain that Rachmaninov was going through.
Making its debut in 1994, the Trio is composed of three
musicians all from the Moscow Conservatory and having worked
internationally as soloists and chamber musicians.
The pianist Viktor Yampolsky has worked with the Moscow
Philharmonic Orchestra and was chosen as the pianist for composer
Edison Denisov's Moscow Ensemble for Contemporary Music. The
violinist Mikhail Tsinman won the Mozart competition in Salzburg in
1991 and now he is the faculty member of the Moscow Conservatory as
well as the orchestra leader of the Bolshoi Theatre. The cellist
Natalia Savinova is a member of the Moscow Ensemble of Contemporary
Music.
(China Daily March 30, 2006)
