Classical Music | Music for Trio

Frank Bridge

Saltarello, no. 6, from Miniatures for Piano Trio  Play

Trio Terzetto Trio

Recorded on 08/13/2014, uploaded on 02/03/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Three Miniatures for Piano Trio, FrankBridge

Perhaps best known as the mentor of Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge was in his own right an important figure on the English music scene of the early 20th century.  Born in Brighton to a musical family, he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford, whose other pupils of note include Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Arthur Bliss.  Bridge experienced early success as a chamber musician, performing as a violist with the Joachim and English String Quartets, among others.  His reputation as a reliable and skillful conductor made him a top choice to fill in for last-minute cancellations, earning him the affectionate nickname “ambulance conductor.”  Bridge’s early compositions are mostly Romantic in nature, with Impressionistic influences from his contemporaries Debussy and Ravel, clearly observable in early masterpieces such as The Sea (1912) and his Cello Sonata (1913-1917).  An outspoken pacifist, Bridge made a marked shift in style after the First World War, leaning towards Expressionism and incorporating the Second Viennese school in works such as his Third String Quartet (1926).

None of the angst of his later years can be heard in the Miniatures for Piano Trio (1908-1915).  Published in three sets, the Miniatures are dedicated to Bridge’s violin student, Betty Hanbury, and her two amateur musician sisters.  Playful, interactive, and colorful, there is nothing amateurish about these unassuming but utterly charming musical morsels.     Trio Terzetto