Schneider - String Trio in Eb - Full Piece Recording 

Composer: Schneider

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​It's not clear which Schneider wrote this.  The score only has a last name and there were three contemporaneous German composers named Schneider (two of which were both named Georg): Georg Abraham Schneider (1770-1839), Friedrich Schneider (1786-1853), and Georg Laurenz Schneider (1766-1855). 

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Date: ?

Original Instrumentation: 2 violas, cello

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Movements:    

1. Andante

2. Allegro Moderato

3. Adagio

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Why this one:

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​I'm trying to get over my fear of the key of Eb (3 flats.  Hate it on a string instrument.)  Also, I thought a string trio played by 2 violas and cello was an unusual combo and, to be honest, the unclear attribution made this appealing.  The parts were also handwritten and rather hard to read, so I thought the chances of this getting recorded were slim.​

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Description:  

Movement 1 - Allegro poco

Key:  Eb

Time: 4/4      BPM=75

This is a slowish, stately movement.  Viola 1 is doing most  of the melody, though the other instruments join in and harmonize or do a call and response with it at times.  Structurally there are a lot of subsections here, with a new melodic theme every 8 bars or so.  The most interesting to me is at about a minute where over an descending sequence of ascending runs, the piece feels like it's modulating to C minor, the relative minor of the home key of Eb.   Shortly after it modulates to F major, V of V for Eb.  (Meaning F is the V chord of the key of Bb,  the V chord of Eb.)

The ending recapitulates the opening theme before closing out with a new idea.

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Performance:​

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I did the cello part and the first two movements of the viola 2 part in one session.  (I ran out of time; this piece is pretty long.   In the next section I did the first two movements of viola 1.  (Again, ran out of time.)    Then in a third session I did the third movement for both violas.

I didn't have any trouble.  This one was long but not all that difficult.

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Errata:

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The score was really hard to read and I think there were a few mistakes, so I had to make some choices.   There were a lot of sections where, as written (or what i think was written), there were a lot of really clashing dissonances which didn't feel in continuity with the rest of the piece or with the Classical style.  I just tried to make the best choice I could.​

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Movement 2 - Allegro Moderato

Key:  Eb

Time: 4/4      BPM=105

This moderately paced section is roughly structured ABAD and the A section begins with a short shot long idea in the viola 1 that gets moved around and toyed with throughout.  The piece quickly modulates to Bb major with the viola 1 taking lead, cello in support and viola 2 harmonizing with one or the other at different times. 

The B section that starts at around 1:55 is in Bbm and kicks off using the same rhythmic idea as the opening.  It does modulate back to a major key before returning to the A section.  After this is a brief D section coda in the home  key where the cello does a little bit of melodic work. 

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Performance:​

This was the hardest of the three movements.  Both the viola1 and cello get quite high above the staff which  made figuring out the notes a bit of a challenge as my note recognition past about 3 ledger lines is a little rough.  That was more a preparation rather than execution challenge though; there are some quick parts but it was still mostly eighth notes which is very manageable at BPM 105.  This movement was also a concentration challenge as it's relatively long at about 5:20 and the individual parts weren't that fun to learn or play.

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Movement 3 - Adagio

Key:  Dm

Time: 4/4      BPM=65

Movement three starts with a slow half note melody in the violas which largely harmonize with each other while.  The cello has a lot of motion as it arpeggiates chords and it is sketching out mostly D minor and G minor (the i and iv chords of D minor).  About a quarter of the way through the piece modulates to F major in with a faster melodies.   The cello even gets to play some melody, high up in its range.   The piece closes out by recapitulating the opening in D minor.

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Performance:​

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​​​No real issues here, though the high on the neck cello melodies took me a while to figure out how to play.   The biggest hurdle was that it was so slow I really had to focus to not pull ahead of the beat.

Album Art:

This is a photo of me wearing a snake in Winter Park, circa 2014.  I don't know anything about this composer other than whoever it was was probably German, and I've never been there so I don't have any apropos photos.  So I used an apropos-of-nothing one.​