Phantasiestücke pf trio

Robert Schumann (181-–56)     

Fantasiestücke for piano trio op 88 (1842)

Romanze

Humoreske

Duett

Having taken years to achieve its final form – it was sketched in 1842 and completed in a first version a year later but not published until after thorough revision in 1850 – Schumann’s Fantasiestücke for piano trio Op.88 has never found a firm place in the repertoire. Even so, while in terms of popularity it has been far less successful than his other works under the Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces) title and his other three piano trios, it is a highly attractive score. The opening Romanze has a pleasingly confiding, rueful quality to it. The Humoreske retains its good humour in spite of its somewhat random succession of short episodes in binary form, the third and first being recalled at the end to lend the construction a kind of symmetry. In Duett a melodiously amorous, ultimately passionate exchange between violin and cello is accompanied by piano arpeggios until they break off for a strangely morose ending. Most imaginative of all perhaps, if somewhat repetitive in places, is the march-time Finale which embraces a diversity of episodes, including an ingenious study in counterpoint early on and a playful little diversion in the middle, before making its explosive exit.