Reger: Piano Trio, Op. 102 Artium Trio

• Max Reger (1873 - 1916): Piano Trio, Op. 102:
• 1 Piano Trio, Op. 102: I. Allegro moderato, ma con passione 14:53
• 2 Piano Trio, Op. 102: II. Allegretto 05:00
• 3 Piano Trio, Op. 102: III. Largo 12:07
• 4 Piano Trio, Op. 102: IV. Allegro con moto 10:06
• Suite, Op. 79d:
• 5 Suite, Op. 79d: I. Wiegenlied 01:51
• 6 Suite, Op. 79d: II. Capriccio 01:11
• 7 Suite, Op. 79d: III. Burla 02:04
• 2 Pieces, Op. 79e:
• 8 2 Pieces, Op. 79e: I. Caprice 02:14
• 9 2 Pieces, Op. 79e: II. Kleine Romanze 02:11
• Total Runtime 51:37

Info for Reger: Piano Trio, Op. 102

Max Reger (1873-1916) was an astonishingly prolific composer, amassing a total of well over a thousand works in a short career. His earliest compositions were lieder and chamber works, and it was the latter genre that inspired Reger to compose his finest music. His mature output reflected both the Baroque revival and modernist tendencies, with two of the most lasting influences upon his style being Brahms and Bach.

Reger has an unfair reputation for complexity and turgidity that by no means defines a large share of his oeuvre. Today his music is rarely played, yet in a 1922 letter Schoenberg described him as a genius, including Reger in the same breath with Wagner, Mahler, Strauss and Debussy.

Reger’s Piano Trio in E minor is sometimes described as his ‘Second Piano Trio’ but is in fact the first he composed for the usual three instruments. The first movement is a large-scale extended sonata structure on a seminal E–F–D sharp–E motif that in the manner of Brahms binds not only the movement but the entire work. A spectral pizzicato scherzo in C minor follows, then a Largo sonata–rondo with a beautiful hymn-like theme. The Brahmsian finale includes examples of Reger’s beloved fugal writing, march-rhythms and a chorale-like theme. A propensity for full textures, exemplified in much of this trio, suggests the influence of the organ loft, where Reger was perhaps most at home.

The three pieces Op.79d for violin and piano, dating from 1902/4, just a few years before the Piano Trio, reveal Reger the miniaturist, as do the two brief pieces for cello and piano Op.79e. Though relatively slight in the context of Reger’s output, these sets are greatly varied in mood and indicative of the expressive range that characterises the composer’s musical output as a whole.

Artium Trio

Artium Trio
Born in Lisbon, Francisco Lima Santos (1991) began his musical studies at the age of 9 under Ana Margarida Sanmarful. He then studied with Khachatour Amirkhanian (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa), Yuzuko Horigome (Koninklijk Conservatorium) and Ana Chumachenko and Zograb Tatevosyan (Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía). He performed as a soloist with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra and Gulbenkian Orchestra. He was a member of the EUYO. He has played with the Euskadi Symphony, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic. He has regularly performed in chamber music festivals, playing alongside soloists such as Diemut Poppen, Ivan Monighetti, Christel Lee and Barnabas Kelemen. He has been Concertmaster of the Gulbenkian Orchestra since 2017.

Pedro Gomes Silva was born in Lisbon (1995) and began his cello studies at the age of 8 under the guidance of Luis Sá Pessoa. He then studied with teachers such as Levon Mouradian, Pavel Gomziakov and Louise Hopkins at the Guildhall Music School of Music and Drama. Pedro has played in festivals with musicians such as Adrian Brendel, Tatiana Samouil, Natalia Tchitch, Sergey Ostrovsky, and members of the Endellian Quartet, performing in halls such as Gulbenkian, Barbican, Milton Court, Casa da Música, alongside orchestras including the Orchestra of the National Conservatory, OSJ and Symphony Orchestra of ESML. Pedro held a scholarship from EDP Foundation –OSJ and is currently a recipient of GDA and Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship and works regularly with Gulbenkian Orchestra.

João Barata, born in Covilhã, began his piano studies at the age of 6 with Paula Ramos. He then studied with Tâmara Antontseva and with Jorge Moyano. He made his orchestra debut at the age of 12 in Ettelbruck (Luxembourg). He was awarded several international first prizes, including at the Santa Cecília International Competition and at the International Competition Cidade do Fundão. He has performed recitals in several halls in Portugal and Spain. Since 2017, he studies at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid under the guidance of Galina Eguiazarova. He is a recipient of Fundación Albeniz and Gulbenkian Foundation scholarships.

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