Score and Parts.Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. First performance 19 May 1998 Merkin Concert Hall New York City.Quoting Weir: 'In my previous work I have often enjoyed inventing titles whichattempt to encapsulate the particular world of each composition but this fifteen minutes piece for violin cello and piano is simply entitled Piano Trio . What is the reason for this unusually abstract description? I thinkperhaps that in this piece the many external impressions which habitually make up my musical world have become too numerous and too personal to be pinned down in the space of few words that a composition title allows.The firstmovement began in my mind with impressions of Venice as relayed in Schubert's song Gondelfahrer; the crisp midnight air the dark choppy water the bells tolling the gondolier alone in emotional turmoil. Schubert's world is aplace where I can find constant inspiration and strength.The second movement recalls a time when I was called from a phone box in Africa. At one moment I was alone in my room the next (or so it seemed in my imagination)surrounded by light heat and sudden energy and activity. The movement is not however an evocation of African music; it takes the form of a scherzo and trio which collide with each other at the movement's conclusion.Thethird movement formed in my mind whilst I was reading some Gaelic poetry from the Hebridean island of Lewis on Scotland 's far flung Atlantic fringe. I was thinking of the bleached white beaches in that part of the world whereevery object lying on the sand - a washed-up bottle or a bird's skeleton - is a major event in a deserted landscape. The same might be said of this short set of musical variations where melodic fragments are laid out with plentyof space around them clear and plain for everyone to hear.

Le titre 'Sans faiblir, la nuit attend le soleil' est un vers de la poétesse Marina Tsvetaieva, et fait référence à la guerre, puis au foisonnement des Arts et de la littérature après-guerre. Les tempi hésitants et les changements de mesures du premier mouvement lui confèrent son caractère de 'pas perdus dans la nuit'. L'harmonie d'accords diminués et les fragments mélodiques qui se poursuivent après complétent le tableau nuité. Le deuxième mouvement est plus ouvert harmoniquement, mais l'on retrouve la chasse- poursuite, des motifs en forme de mini canons. Les cordes à vide du violon sont utilisées souvent dans les deux mouvements en tant que base harmonique et mélodique. Un son de petites clochettes dans l'aigu du piano apporte au deuxième mouvement son rayon de soleil. / Violon, Violoncelle Et Piano

Cheryl Frances-Hoad's The Forgiveness Machine for Piano Cello and Violin. 'The Forgiveness Machine was commissioned by the Phoenix Piano Trio as part of their Beyond Beethoven Project. My work is very closely modeled on the second movement of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio and comprises a set of loosely structured variations many of which are motivically very similar to Beethoven's. This work is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother Christina Hoad. I received this commission in the last months of her life and would often sit in the room listening to the Archduke on my headphones while she rested. Beethoven’s music to me atthat time had an almost transcendental quality to it temporarily permitting an escape from the reality and inevitability of my Nan’s illness. It was this quality of serenity beauty and dignity that I tried to emulate in my work. The title is taken from an art work by Karen Green: the Forgiveness Machine was made after the death of her husband David Foster Wallace and encourages members of the public to write down on a piece of paper what they want to forgive/be forgiven for before feeding it to the machine which sucks up the piece of paper and shreds it (the artwork is some seven foot long). Whilst in my case there is nothing to forgive it was the feeling of catharsis that many people reported after interaction with this artwork that struck a chord with me and had tremendous relevance to this work.' - Cheryl Frances-Hoad

(Op. 44 37 38 39 48)-À l?époque classique et pendant une grande partie du 19e siècle les trios avec piano constituaient en quelque sorte des articles de mode. Il n?est donc pas surprenant qu?après Haydn et Mozart Beethoven se soit lui aussi essayé à ce genre et ait laissé en tout 13 trios avec piano. Les ?uvres contenues dans ce volume III présentent presque toutes de petites particularités: l?op. 44 n?est pas un trio à part entière mais se compose d?un unique mouvement de variations le WoO 37 fut écrit alors que Beethoven se trouvait encore à Bonn et se distingue par son instrumentation (piano flûte et basson) le WoO 39 fut écrit pour la petite Maximiliane fille de la famille Brentano «pourl?encourager à jouer du piano» l?op. 38 est une adaptation pour piano clarinette et violoncelle du septuor op. 20 et le dernier morceau n?est parvenu à la postérité que sous la forme figurant dans le cahier d?esquisses utilisé par Beethoven lorsqu?il était à Bonn. Aucune de ces ?uvres n?a l?envergure de ses grands trios avec piano mais elles restent néanmoins des témoins de son grand art.

À l?époque classique et pendant une grande partie du 19e siècle les trios avec piano consti-tuaient pour ainsi dire des articles très tendance. Il n?est donc pas surprenant qu?après Haydn et Mozart Beethoven se soit lui aussi essayé à ce genre et ait laissé en tout 13 trios avec piano. Ce deuxième volume contient les deux trios avec piano op. 70 le trio op. 97 ainsi que les va-riations sur la chanson «Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu» op. 121a. Comme souvent le surnom de «Trio des esprits» du trio op. 70 no 1 ne lui a pas été attribué par Beethoven lui-même mais tient sans doute aux sonorités particulières un peu lugubres du mouvement lent. Le trio op. 97 est dit «del?archiduc» en référence à son dédicataire l?archiduc Rodolphe. Il s?agit certainement du trio avec piano de Beethoven le plus significatif mais aussi le plus long puisqu?il dure plus de 45 minutes. Bien que composé dès 1810/11 il ne fut publié qu?en 1816.

Distance and Enchantment is a musical essay considering the strikingly common occurrence of people who disappear from home never to return. It takes the form of two meditations on traditional songs which are playedtogether without a break amounting to a single movement of about eleven minutes duration. The first song The Dark Eyed Gipsy tells of a woman who of her own accord leaves her home to roam the unknown world with a band ofgipsies; and the second A ghaoil lig dhachaigh gu m'mathair mi tells of a girl who wanders a little too far from home on a dark night and is stolen away by the fairies. Scored for Violin Cello Viola and Piano. Scoreand parts included.