The 'TRIO SINFONICO' of David Johnstone is a large-scale work for the unquestionable awe-inspiring beauty of the Clarinet – Cello – Piano trio, still too poorly recognized by the general public and sometimes even amongst musicians themselves. The combination of a wind instrument, a string instrument, and piano is one that offers almost unlimited sound colours. This present work is a composition yielded in symphonic proportions, as if the composer were making a reduction for trio of a work which had not yet been conceived for orchestra! It is cast in one ample movement, in an extended sonata form structure; especially note-worthy being the second development section (even more ferocious than the first development) where one might normally expect the re-exposition. In the initial exposition the first subject group is generally of a rugged Shostakovich-like terrain, with difficult intervallic leaps for all instruments. The second subject is of the utmost contrast, melodic and very tender, and the horizontal lines are so long that one has the impression of hearing a slow movement as such on more than one occasion. The development is very thematic; at all times tonally based, however not without some very strong dissonances. The final coda is exhilarating for the brilliance of the instrumental interplay, and for the forward propulsion of the writing.
The duration in public performance is around 20 minutes. It would only be fair to suggest that whilst everything presented is indeed eminently playable, it is more appropriate to be handled by professional level players and might prove daunting for medium level students – above all for the resilience levels and technical command in extremely wide-ranging registers needed by each instrumentalist.
The work is dedicated to the international concert trio 'B3 Classic', who gave the world premiere performance, and who have recorded the work live for Spanish National Television (RTE). |
