Classical Notes: August 14, 2006 Archive

Menlo listening: piano trio

Posted at 2:59 PM on August 14, 2006 by Brian Newhouse
Filed under: Concerts

Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in e, op. 67
—Derek Han, piano; Ani Kavafian, violin; Peter Wiley, cello
Listen to the piece

Mozart celebrated birthday number 250 this year, so he was the headline of the 2006 Menlo festival, but the sub-head was Shostakovich who has 100 candles on his cake. Not that there’s much celebrating going on in this piece, written in the horrible year of 1944. If you like your music nice and dramatico, here you go. If you’ve only got a minute to sample it, drop the needle on the very beginning of the first movement and check out Peter Wiley’s beautiful, eerie cello solo, pitched so high that it sounds like a completely different instrument.

Listen to more Music@Menlo concerts