The three compositions that the Smetana Trio has chosen for its
new recording (SU 4258-2) were written within the span of just
four years, but they represent three different musical worlds.
The Piano Trio by Anton Arensky recalls the atmosphere
of bourgeois musical salons of the nineteenth century, where
music was played for the pleasure of polite society. The
composition by the twenty-fiveyear-old Alexander Zemlinsky
represents the arrival of the search for new sounds and harmonies. The one-movement trio by the nineteen-year-old piano virtuoso and composer Sergei Rachmaninov exhibits that nobly elegiac quality that would become characteristic of the future works of the world famous musician. Anton Arensky’s short life was marred by mental illness, while the lives of Zemlinsky and Rachmaninov were struck by external circumstances – they died within a year of each other while far from their homelands in the United States. With élan and commitment all its own, the internationally acclaimed Smetana Trio is presenting three noteworthy compositions of the late nineteenth century. Supraphon will release the album on CD and digital formats on 29th March 2019.