3 reasons Vetta Chamber Music’s next program is titled Dream Piano Trios
The tribute to Eugene Osadchy features classics by Haydn, Brahms, and Schubert
Joan Blackman (violin), Arthur Rowe (piano), and Brian Yoon (cello).
Vetta Chamber Music presents Dream Piano Trios--A Tribute to Eugene Osadchy November 26 to 29. In honour of the organization’s beloved late cofounder. The program features classic piano trios of Haydn, Brahms, and Schubert performed by Arthur Rowe (piano), Joan Blackman (violin), and Brian Yoon (cello).
Here are three reasons the concert is a dream.
1) The first piece on the program, the Haydn Trio in E-flat, is nicknamed Jacob’s Dream after the biblical story about a ladder reaching to heaven that Jacob sees in a dream. The reference is actually a joke on a violinist of the time who was known for his exaggerated sense of prowess in the upper registers. The ladders would be represented by passage work that climbs to the high registers in the violin and doesn’t ever come down—three cheers for Haydn’s sense of humour!
2) Pianist and scholar Alfred Brendel said when comparing Schubert to Beethoven, “Beethoven composes like an architect, Schubert like a sleepwalker….in Beethoven’s music, we never lose our bearings, we always know where we are; Schubert on the other hand puts us into a dream.” In fact, Schubert wrote about a dream he had (summary below) and it reads very much like his music. In the case of the E flat Trio, we know Schubert was aware of his limited time left on Earth, and the way he cycles through different ideas, different moods, has a shifting, ephemeral, dreamlike quality.
I was a brother of many brothers and sisters. Our father and our mother were good. I was devoted to them all with a deep love. Once, my father took us to a feast [Lustgelage]. There my brothers became very merry. I, however, was sad. Then my father approached me and commanded me to enjoy the delicious food. But I could not, wherefore my father, becoming angry, banished me from his sight. I turned my steps away and, my heart full of infinite love for those who disdained it, wandered into a distant land. For long years I felt torn between the greatest grief and the greatest love. Then the news of my mother's death reached me. I hastened to see her, and my father, softened by sorrow, did not hinder my entrance. Then I saw her corpse. Tears flowed from my eyes. I saw her lying there like the happy old past, in which, according to the deceased's wish, we were to live as she herself once had.
And we followed her corpse in sorrow and the coffin sank down.—From that time on I again remained at home. Then my father took me once again into his favorite garden. He asked me if I liked it. But the garden was wholly repellent to me and I dared not say so.
3) These three trios are all a dream to play and a dream to listen to, masterpieces by composers at the height of their powers.
Dream Piano Trios is the second in a series of five online concerts Vetta is presenting this season. The concert was recorded live at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.
More information about Dream Piano Trios is at Vetta Chamber Music. Tickets can be purchased here; there are subscriptions ($80), single tickets ($20), and supported tickets ($5). If you’re a student, recent grad with student loans, or have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, the special-discount supported ticket may be just what you’re looking for.
This post was sponsored by Vetta Chamber Music.