Piano Trio No 1 (2007)
("Dolcissimo Uscignolo")

The piano trio repertoire is replete with references to folksong with trios by Schubert, Smetana and Dvorak amongst the best examples. In composing this piece I initially toyed with some more out-of-the-way folk music sources, but in the end decided to follow a slightly different path and explore the notion of song within the context of an instrumental composition through the conduit of a madrigal.

I was drawn to Monteverdi’s madrigal Dolcissimo Uscignolo not only because of its heartbreakingly beautiful melody and luminous harmonic style, but also for of its textual playfulness about the nature of song. In this madrigal, the poet reflects yearningly on the beauty of the nightingale’s song, its joy and freedom in flight. This is contrasted with the earthbound misery of the poet who says he has no use for song. In essence, the madrigal deals with conflicts and feelings about duty versus pleasure.

Dolcissimo Uscignolo

Tu chiami la tua cara compagnia

Cantando vieni, vieni anima mia.

A me canto non vale;

E non ho come tu da volar ale.

O felice augeletto:

Come nel tuo diletto

Ti ricompensa ben l’alma natura;

Se ti negò saper, ti diè ventura.

Sweetest Nightingale,

You summon your dear companion,

Singing, ‘Come, come my beloved!’

Song is of no use to me,

And I have no wings like you with which to fly.

O happy bird!

How well, where pleasure is concerned,

Has Mother Nature provided for you:

Denying you understanding, she gave you joy.

Fragments of the madrigal are heard throughout this single-movement Trio somewhat in the manner of half-recalled memories, forming the motivic basis of much of the material. As a result, the piece is quite melodic in parts, even though a wide range of expressive instrumental devices are used, ranging from overtly tonal material, through to more jagged, spiky textures.

The structure is a broad arch shape: the slow and reflective music of the opening and closing acts as an outer frame to a long central section which is fast, dance-like and exuberant. Throughout this central section more madrigal fragments are introduced in a series of conjoined episodes, exploring a multiplicity of instrumental techniques and sonorities.

The piece climaxes as repeated rising patterns in the piano along with ascending arpeggio figures in the strings seem to wind up a coil very tight, ready to release in a celebratory passage based around a descending cycle of fifths – a device much loved by composers of the early Baroque such as Monteverdi. Longer passages of the madrigal now flow but to blur the edges, it is not always apparent what is direct quotation and what has been subjected to elaboration.

Paul Stanhope