Haydn: Piano Trio No. 44 in E Major, Hob. XV/28
0:00 - I. Allegro moderato
7:18 - II. Allegretto
11:20 - III. Finale: Allegro
Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
Composed: in London, 1797
Dedicated to: Therese Jansen Bartolozzi
Album: "Haydn: Piano Trios, Vol. 2"
Trio: Kungsbacka Piano Trio
(Description by John Palmer, taken from allmusic.com)
"During Haydn's second stay in London in 1794-5, he composed a number of keyboard trios. These works show a considerable advancement in style when compared to those written a decade earlier. Most are in three movements as opposed to the two we find in earlier works, and much of the melodic writing, even in the fast movements, is in a cantabile style. Most of the first movements of the late Trios are in sonata form with substantial development sections that often modulate to distant keys. The Finales are generally in sonata form as well, although the Trio (Sonata) for keyboard, violin & cello in G major, "Gypsy Trio" H. 15/25, opens with a rondo and closes with the famous "Rondo all' Ongarese."
Haydn's late keyboard trios are best regarded as keyboard sonatas with the accompaniment of violin and cello. Most of the material lies in the keyboard part, and the most involved passages for the string instruments usually double the keyboard. Surprisingly, the string instruments have very few independent passages.
The trios Haydn composed in London were eventually published in sets of three, all of which were dedicated to women. One of the four sets, that containing H. 15/27-29, were intended for Therese Jansen, an excellent pianist in London who had studied with Clementi. Haydn also composed the Piano Sonatas in C major, D major and E flat major (H. 16/50-52) for Ms. Jansen. Unlike the Trios for Rebecca Schroeter, those for Ms. Jansen are among Haydn's most difficult in terms of the technique required of the performer and the most intriguing in terms of composition. The Trio in E major, H. 15/28, is one of Haydn's most unusual works.
In the opening Allegro moderato of the E major Trio we find a perfect example of Haydn's approach to cantabile writing. The first theme is a perfectly arched stepwise melody, each pitch preceded by an elegant grace note. The piano graces make the instrument sound like the strings, which are also playing the melody, pizzicato. The most striking moment of the movement occurs in the development section, where the sudden appearance of the theme, in full and played forte on A flat, effectively stops the section's otherwise intense progress. This is the only time we hear the theme forte and the only time it is this thickly harmonized, with the strings playing arco. It doesn't even pretend to be a false recapitulation; it simply makes us wait for things to get going again.
The texture of the E minor Allegretto is unusual. At times the two-part counterpoint is spread out over three or four octaves, even when the piano is alone--nearly half the movement. The form is something like a passacaglia in that a bass pattern continues relentlessly throughout the movement, sometime on a different harmony and at one point in the violin. Over this pattern Haydn layers changing material in rhythms that are distinct from that of the bass line. A move to the relative major (G major) and a central, developmental area are firmly rooted in the Classical-style, but the drawn-out tension, sudden changes in dynamics, and the wild flourishes at the end that delay the final cadence all point to the Romantic era.
The Finale, an Allegro in E major, is in ternary form. The opening section, a two-part theme performed mostly by the pianist, remains in E major. A central section provides contrast through both its key--E minor--and a lilting string line. The return to the beginning of the movement is literal and leads into a coda constructed of both new material and references to the first theme."