The 1827 Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D. 929 exists in two versions, since Schubert cut the last mvmt after the first performance. In 1975 the original score was published and is performed here by the Trio Vitruvi. The Trio’s scale is quite large, given Schubert’s ardor for Beethoven works in the same key, like the Eroica Symphony and the Emperor Concerto. The first mvmt works out three themes, in E-flat, B Minor, and B-flat Major. The phrases are often short and rhythmically active, passionate and militant. The second mvmt became a theme for Stanley Kubrick’s historical epic Barry Lyndon. In C Minor, the music has a funereal, processional character. S based his melody on a Swedish song, “Look, the sun is setting.” He repeats the theme near the end of his last mvmt. The Scherzando: Allegro moderato is in three parts. Dancing, the rhythm of the first mvmt’s B Minor theme provides the initial impetus. Polyphony extends S’s ideas. The Trio section enjoys a more dance-like character. In sonata form, the Finale opens in 6/8 in the style of a courtly dance. The next theme is more virtuosic, staccato, in 2/2. A return to 6/8 has the music demonized. Eventually, S merges the funeral theme with the staccato theme in counterpoint. In the coda, the funeral theme assumes heroic proportions in the major mode.
The Schubert Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D. 897 “Notturno” was composed in 1827 but not published until 1846. A song without words, the music becomes almost static at times, a long note followed by ornamental figures. The music advances by slow degrees, sometimes only by a semitone and modulations to the median key. The atmosphere remains serene and celestial