Piano Trio in A, Op. 18

Full Score

Violin Part

Cello Part

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This trio was commissioned by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association. It was composed in the summer of 1983 and first performed in November of that year at the NMTA annual convention in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Concision is (ordinarily) a virtue; ellipticality is not. The original version of the trio was elliptical to the point of incomprehensibility -- as if roughly half of the music had simply been left out. It was revised in 2020 to backfill the portions of the musical argument and structure that had been, in effect, omitted. It is still concise, and perhaps even still excessively concise, but at least it can be followed.

The work is described as being simply "in A", rather than A major or A minor, because much of the music combines major and minor, simultaneously or at least in close juxtaposition. The endings of the first and last movements present C (natural) and C# together. Each listener may form their own impression of which one, or whether either, predominates.