Trio

This Trio for violin, clarinet and piano, composed in November 1974, was first performed in Huelva (Spain) on 24th February 1975 by the Trio Bartok, to whom it was dedicated. It consists of just one movement with four sections which contrast with each other in expressive character, speed, or instrumental texture. The first section (cantabile), is subdivided into three parts of a predominantly questioning nature. In the second section (animato), a progression which grows increasingly intense is begun and developed, leading to the third section with the reappearance, in a changed and abbreviated form, of elements of the initial exposition, followed by a new passage of the most intense build up tension, which is resolved in a serene tone which clearly brings this section to an end. All the polyphonic and harmonic texture of the Trio is based on the constant rotation and overlaying of a single series of twelve notes derived from the opening bars and the succession of sequences which determine the orbit and meaning of the composition, contrasting interrrelating with themselves like the verses of a poem. (Joaquim Homs)

The composer wrote two further versions of this Trio: the first one for oboe and the second for violoncello, which replace the clarinet.