Concert in aid of Maxability: Robin Green Piano Trio

Maxability’s next concert - 1st February 2025 at 7:30pm  Robin Green Piano Trio - Robin Green (piano), Warren Zielinski (violin) and Sébastien van Kuijk (cello) 

British pianist Robin Green is a regular performer at major festivals and concert halls, where he performs a wide solo and chamber music repertoire from the Renaissance to ambitious contemporary works. His discography includes works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert and Kurtag. He has recorded for Claves, Gramola, Ty Cerdd and Prima Facie labels to critical acclaim, and performed Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on the popular Netflix show ‘The Crown’. Robin is a solo-piano professor and chamber music lecturer at the Royal Welsh College of

Music and Drama. He is the artistic director and guest curator of major festivals, including the Harrogate International festival. As many of you know, Robin has been a regular performer at Maxability concerts over the past 10 years.

Warren Zielinski is one of the most prolific session musicians in London, having performed over 500 Major Film Titles and more than 3000 studio album tracks since 1998. Warren is equally in demand as a Violin Soloist and Concertmaster. 

Sébastien Van Kuijk is a prize-winner in the Prague Spring, Rostropovich and Casals competitions. He has performed around the world in major venues in Prague, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, Amsterdam and London’s Wigmore Hall. 

Tonight’s programme comprises two major works, both great favourites with Maxability audiences, and of which one can never tire:

SCHUMANN - Piano Trio no 2 in F Major, Op 80

(Interval)

TCHAIKOWSKY - Piano Trio in A Minor, Op 50

Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor stands as a testament to his rich, emotionally complex musical language. Its evocative beauty and dramatic range make it a favourite among chamber musicians and audiences alike.  It  was composed in 1847, a year marked by personal and emotional turmoil for the composer. Written during a period of  introspection as well as hardship, the trio reflects Schumann's characteristic blend of lyricism, drama, and virtuosic interplay between the instruments. The work opens with an Allegro movement full of urgency and intensity, which transitions seamlessly into the second movement, Andante espressivo, where a deep sense of melancholy is balanced with moments of lyrical tenderness. The third movement, Scherzo: Molto vivace, introduces an almost playful energy, contrasting with the darker hues of the first two movements. The finale, Allegro, brings the work to a vigorous and exhilarating conclusion, its joyful, even triumphant themes offering a sense of resolution.

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A Minor is the only work he composed in this format. Unusually, despite being of symphonic length, it has only two movements, which he named (respectively) Pezzo Elegiaco and Tema con Variazioni. The Trio was written in Rome in the winter of 1881-1882, and is subtitled "In memory of a great artist”, a reference to Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's close friend and mentor, who had died in March 1881. The first movement opens with a spellbinding theme for cello solo that returns at the very end of the work, in the shape of a slow march. The movement’s development is a thematic interplay that allows each instrument to perform the immortal theme in unique form. The second movement’s eleven variations are based on a classical theme that works itself into more and more ecstatic heights, and finally undergoes a surprise modulation back to the original minor key. The riveting theme from the first movement’s opening returns with even greater gravity, concluding in an unforgettable sombre march.