About this work:
Commissioned by the Raphael Trio.
Piano Trio No.1 ... for violin, cello, and piano, is in four movements.
I. Tangata
II. Tanguedia
III. Tango-scherzoso
IV. Fantango
Program note: I have for many years found inspiration in the music of Astor Piazzolla. His music is soulful. It has passion. When it's fast, it makes you want to dance, and when it's slow, it tears at your heart. Like jazz in America, Piazzolla's music fuses his native Argentine folk-music with Western European concert music. My work borrows, without embarrassment, from the same sources. The first movement, Tangata, proceeds like a three-part ABA sonata-fantasia. The unifying element is rhythmic - a repeating, ever-evolving "tango" beat. The second movement, Tanguedia, is slow and sad. The third, Tango-scherzoso, is wild and crazy ... It teeters on a tight-rope. If it weren't for the "walking" bass-line, it'd crash!!! The final movement, Fantango, is like a fandango - stately, and proud - in triple meter. But my Fantango is in eleven-four, divided into groups of 3, 3, 3 and 2.