Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke is hard to pin down. One moment reveling in impish Mozartean musical pranks, the next lingering nostalgically over a long-forgotten tune and in turn unleashing a torrent of gripping dissonance, Schnittke can turn on a dime. He was born into a Russo-German Jewish family, spent two formative years in Vienna following WWII, cut his teeth as a composer in the Soviet Union (enduring government sanctions like all the greats) and eventually converted to Catholicism, emigrating to Hamburg after the fall of the Soviet state. He was sickly most of his professional career, surviving multiple strokes and having been declared dead no fewer than three times.
The String Trio was commissioned in 1985 to honor the centenary of the birth of Alban Berg, composer of the greatest of all violin concertos (hands down!), most psychologically penetrating of all operas and Lyric of all Suites. The influence of Berg is greatly in evidence throughout the trio, notably in the through-lines of references to Schubert and Mahler, musical soul mates to both Schnittke and Berg. Schnittke may have lived and worked in the Soviet Union, but his musical light reflected Viennese radiance. In perhaps his most Viennese turn, Schnittke died shortly after completing his 9th Symphony.
Make no mistake, you are in for a work of great density and dissonance. And of course you are also in for a work of the sweetest melodic nostalgia. That’s Schnittke. And you will love the journey.
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)
String Trio (1985)
I. Moderato
II. Adagio
Artists: Timothy Christie, viola/moderator; Sarah Rommel, cello; Maria Sampen, violin
Artists: Timothy Christie, moderator; Conor Hanick, piano; Sarah Rommel, cello
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