Brahms was twenty years old when he met Robert and Clara Schumann in 1853. It was in that same year that the pianist and composer wrote the Three Romances for Violin and Piano, to be played on her tours with the also famous violinist Joseph Joachim. By then, Robert was a figure of enormous artistic prestige and great influence on the German music scene, particularly as editor and critic of the magazine Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Fifteen years earlier, he had composed thirteen short piano pieces that became emblematic of the romantic aesthetic. Filled with nostalgia and tenderness, they evoke an adult’s memories and feelings about childhood. He now had in front of him a brilliant young musician, to whom he did not fail to augur a promising future. Although insecure, Brahms did not disappoint (as we know so well!). The Trio Op. 40 is a good example. It originated in 1865 in a spa near Baden-Baden. He himself described the introduction as a morning stroll through the forest, when suddenly a ray of sunshine appears, illustrated by the sound of the horn. We know that it was composed immediately after his mother’s death. The mournful mood of the third movement recalls this defining moment in his biography.
Memories and Romances
Solistas da Metropolitana
[As part of the CCC Out of Doors initiative]
R. Schumann Pieces from the cycle Scenes from Childhood
C. Schumann Three Romances, Op. 22
J. Brahms Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Op. 40
Jérôme Arnouf trumpet
Ágnes Sárosi violino
Savka Konjikusic piano
