Trio in A op. 94: Chamber Ensemble

This is the full score for Rainforest 1 a work for Chamber Ensemble by composer John McCabe. The work was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center New York and is scored for a String Quartet a Piano Trio and an Ensemble of Flute Clarinet and Glockenspiel.

Frantisek Jan Skroup (b. 1801 1862) is known to the public first and foremost as the composer of the Czech national anthem. He was also music director of the Estates Theater in Prague during 1837 57 where he conducted major works from the international opera repertoire and composed a series of works. Taken from his small lesser known output of chamber music the Trio In E-Flat Major Op.27 (BA 9521) and the Trio facile in F major Op.28 (BA 9522) are being published for the first time in Urtext editions.The Trio In E-Flat Major is dedicated to the pianist and composer Sigismond Goldschmidt. It is stylistically reminiscent ofBeethoven?s chamber music; its unison opening recalls for example Beethoven?s famous ?Gassenhauer Trio?. Skroup dedicated the ?Trio facile? to Jeanette Hoffmann the daughter of the Prague publisher Johann Hoffmann.As the title suggests this is an accessible piece in the Biedermeier style which was intended for music making in the home and for lessons.Both these pleasing compositions which represent unknown repertoire of Czech chamber music from the period of the national revival movement can be performed in two different scorings. The 'Trio facile? Op.28 is available in two versions by the composer with the upper part for Flute or Violin.- First Urtext editions- Two alternative versions and scorings of the works- Forewords (Eng/Ger/Cz ) and Critical Commentaries (Eng) by the editor

With a title that refers to the energetic and rumbling Bass beneath the music Weir's work for Chamber Ensemble boasts an intriguing structure. Trios and Quartets appear for fleeting moments as the musicians jostle into groupsthat are soon abandoned...as the piece progresses so unison is gradually although tentatively achieved. Written for a large chamber ensemble of fourteen players the piece was completed in 2002.

Elisabeth Poston (1905-1987) was a British composer and musician who studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later worked for both the BBC and the Arts Council. She is best remembered for her setting of theChristmas carol Jesus Christ the Apple Tree which is still performed regularly today. The Harp Trio was commissioned in 1958 by Anthony Friese-Greene to whom it is dedicated. He was secretary ofthe Hampton Music Club where it was first performed as part of a private concert. This beautiful work is one of her more substantial compositions comprising four contrasting movements. Originally scored for Flute Clarinet andHarp it can be performed with a Viola instead of the Clarinet and/or a Piano instead of the Harp.