Piano Trios-Les deux trios avec piano de Schubert peuvent indubitablement être comptés au nombre de ses ?uvres les meilleures. Composés tous les deux en 1827 c?est-à-dire un an avant sa mort ce sont des ?uvres caractéristiques de sa maturité riches d?une grande invention mélodique alliée à une forte puissance créatrice formelle et une profonde expressivité. Si le trio en Mi bé-mol majeur op. 100 D 929 fut vendu à l?éditeur de Leipzig Probst (il ne parut cependant que juste après la mort de Schubert) le trio en Si bémol majeur op. 99 D 898 ne fut pas imprimé du vivant du compositeur. L?adagio en Mi bémol majeur op. post. 148 D 897 reproduit en annexe et connu plus tard sous letitre de Notturno fut conçu à l?origine comme mouvement lent du trio en Si bémol majeur. Schubert pourrait l?avoir considéré comme impropre à la publication du fait de son caractère sombre et expressif jusqu?au désespoir. Il ne parut d?ailleurs qu?en 1846. En annexe de ce recueil figure également le premier essai dans le genre du trio composé par Schubert à l?été 1812 alors qu?il était âgé de 15 ans.

The autograph of a composition always makes fascinating reading - and this is particularly true of Schubert's Trio in Eb major op. 100, as it underwent many changes during its composition. The manuscript, parts of which were greatly revised, bears eloquent witness to this and offers an opportunity to trace the intricacies of Schubert's phrasing and articulation. This source is in a private collection and our facsimile makes it accessible to the public for the very first time. It is, of course, in proven Henle quality, in lavish four-colour printing and with an extensive introductory text with in-depth information about the work. In a letter to his publisher in 1828, Schubert explicitly dedicated the work to 'no one, save those who find pleasure in it?. / Trio De Pianos

Score and Parts.Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. First performance 19 May 1998 Merkin Concert Hall New York City.Quoting Weir: 'In my previous work I have often enjoyed inventing titles whichattempt to encapsulate the particular world of each composition but this fifteen minutes piece for violin cello and piano is simply entitled Piano Trio . What is the reason for this unusually abstract description? I thinkperhaps that in this piece the many external impressions which habitually make up my musical world have become too numerous and too personal to be pinned down in the space of few words that a composition title allows.The firstmovement began in my mind with impressions of Venice as relayed in Schubert's song Gondelfahrer; the crisp midnight air the dark choppy water the bells tolling the gondolier alone in emotional turmoil. Schubert's world is aplace where I can find constant inspiration and strength.The second movement recalls a time when I was called from a phone box in Africa. At one moment I was alone in my room the next (or so it seemed in my imagination)surrounded by light heat and sudden energy and activity. The movement is not however an evocation of African music; it takes the form of a scherzo and trio which collide with each other at the movement's conclusion.Thethird movement formed in my mind whilst I was reading some Gaelic poetry from the Hebridean island of Lewis on Scotland 's far flung Atlantic fringe. I was thinking of the bleached white beaches in that part of the world whereevery object lying on the sand - a washed-up bottle or a bird's skeleton - is a major event in a deserted landscape. The same might be said of this short set of musical variations where melodic fragments are laid out with plentyof space around them clear and plain for everyone to hear.

Geoffrey Poole's Look Behind You! for Piano Trio.The title signals a piece that is full of surprises exploiting the rapid response factor of lively young performers and responding to the brilliance of Turkish wedding music. It was composed shortly before its premier on 15 March 2002 at the Victoria Rooms Bristol (as part of the Schubert Ensemble's residency at Bristol University) and is dedicated to the composer's predecessor and colleague Adrian Beaumont. - Geoffrey Poole