Compositeur : Beethoven, Ludwig van Instrumentation : Vl,Vc,Klav Nombre de pages : 88

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

Piano Trio no. 1 in d minor op. 49. Mendelssohn is considered a self-critical composer, who repeatedly reworked a number of his pieces until he deemed them worthy to be published. The path to his first Piano Trio was particularly rocky: only after several attempts was he able to complete it in the summer of 1839: it appeared in 1840 after further revisions. This perfectionism paid off, for Mendelssohn?s d minor Trio was immediately received with enthusiasm. Robert Schumann wrote: ?It is the master trio of the present day, like those of Beethoven in Bb and D and that of Franz Schubert in Eb were in their time: a very beautiful composition which after years will still delight grandchildren and great-grandchildren.? Which was to prove true: even today, it numbers among the most popular works in the trio repertoire in general. The trio, taken from the volume Mendelssohn · Piano Trios HN 957, is now available from Henle for the first time also as a practical single edition.