Clarinet-violin-piano trio

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A clarinet-violin-piano trio is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, one violin, and one piano, or the name of a piece written for such a group.

The idea of a clarinet-violin-piano trio is relatively modern. Curiously, the clarinet-viola-piano trio existed several hundred years before the clarinet-violin-piano trio; Mozart composed his famous Kegelstatt Trio in the 18th century, and Romantic composer Max Bruch composed a suite of eight pieces and a double concerto for viola, clarinet, and piano. Many of these works can be (or already have been) transcribed for a clarinet-violin-piano trio. Most compositions for this arrangement were composed in the 20th century, but not all of them are atonal.

Unlike a piano trio or a concerto, there is no standard form for a composition for a clarinet-violin-piano trio; a piece can have any number of movements, at any tempo, in any key.

Acoustically, the choice of a clarinet, violin, and piano is strange. Most chamber music (and most music in general) contains high (soprano), mid-range (alto/tenor), and low (bass/baritone) parts. Both a clarinet and a violin play relatively high-pitched parts, making for a less-balanced sound than a trio that contains all sounds, such as a violin-cello-piano trio.

[edit] Composers of Clarinet-Violin-Piano Trios

(This is an incomplete list.)

• Béla Bartók
• Alban Berg
• William Bolcom
• Donald Erb
• John Harbison
• Jeffrey Harrington
• Alan Hovhaness
• Charles Ives
• Aram Khachaturian
• Ernst Krenek
• Edward Manukyan
• Gian Carlo Menotti
• Darius Milhaud
• Rick Sowash
• Igor Stravinsky
• Johann Baptist Vanhal

[edit] Current Clarinet-Violin-Piano Trio Groups

(This is an incomplete list.)

• The Nordica Trio
• The Bellerive Trio
• The Verdehr Trio
• The Sapphire Trio