Alexander Alyabyev - Piano Trio (c. 1822)

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Alexander Aleksandrovich Alyabyev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Аля́бьев; 15 August [O.S. 4 August] 1787 – 6 March [O.S. 22 February] 1851), also rendered as Alabiev or Alabieff, was a Russian composer known as one of the fathers of the Russian art song. He wrote seven operas, twenty musical comedies, a symphony, three string quartets, more than 200 songs, and many other pieces. Today he is remembered for one piece, a song The Nightingale, which became incredibly famous and has remained in the repertoire.

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Piano Trio in A minor (early 1820's)

1. Allegro ma non troppo (0:00)
2. Adagio (7:57)
3. Rondo: Allegretto (12:48)

Uliana Zhdanov, violin; Denis Zhdanov, cello and Julia Okrushavili, piano

Details by Edition Silvertrust:
The Piano Trio in a minor was published for the first time as part of a centennial commemoration of Alyabiev's death in 1950-51. The exact date of its composition is unknown as the manuscript is undated, however, scholars believe it to be in the early 1820's. It is in three movements, the format basically used by Haydn and Mozart, rather than the 4 movement style which came with Beethoven and Schubert. The opening movement, Allegro ma non troppo, begins with a lyrical melody and is followed by a lighter, more buoyant second subject characterized by its glittering passage work in the piano. The second movement, Adagio, has a reflective, valedictory quality. It is calm although the middle section hints at agitation. In the finale, a Rondo allegretto, the main theme quite clearly is based on Russian folk melody, certainly an important development for Russian music and one which clearly influenced Glinka.

This is the finest Russian piano trio, if not the only one, from the early Romantic era and as such is historically important. But beyond this, it has appealing melodies and is fun to play. It deserves to be heard in concert. We have reprinted the first edition but have made a few improvements for performance.

“Fate is quixotic. Glinka is known as the 'Father of Russian Music', yet Alyabiev began composing his 500 works long before Glinka was on the scene and probably was just as deserving of the title Father of Russian Music. He wrote several operas on Russian subjects long before Glinka did, e.g. Prisoner of the Caucasus based on Pushkin."---The Chamber Music Journal