Phantasie Piano Trio in C minor
Frank Bridge was one of a generation of British composers which has been unfairly neglected; active after Elgar, Parry and Stanford, but before Britten, Walton and Tippett. Bridge, indeed, was for a long time most frequently remembered as Britten’s teacher; however his music is currently returning to the concert hall to delight audiences with its glowing romanticism and refined sense of instrumental colour. Bridge worked freely in most musical forms, but had a special affinity for string chamber music – he was himself a viola player, and for a time a member of the English String Quartet.
Bridge’s career falls into two periods, divided by the First World War. His earlier works (eg "The Sea", "Summer"), are characterised by a warm romanticism with a hint of the English pastoral about them; in the 1920s he turned towards a darker, more expressionist style under the influence of European modernists such as Berg (eg Fourth Quartet, "Oration"). The Phantasie Trio dates from the first period, and originated in a competition sponsored by the businessman and chamber-music aficionado W.W. Cobbett in 1907. Cobbett wanted to revive the old English single-movement form of the Fantasia; and over sixty composers, including Bridge and John Ireland, rose to the challenge. As the Fantasia form requires, Bridge’s Trio is in one continuous movement, with an exposition and recapitulation on either side of an Andante, which itself encloses a short Allegro scherzoso. Bridge’s Trio won the first prize, and Cobbett later claimed that it was the finest piano trio by a British composer.
R.G.Bratby, 1998
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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