String Trio in B minor (1913)

Allegro

Theme and Variations

If Taneyev’s reputation as a master of counterpoint – “the best in Russia,” according to Tchaikovsky – seems daunting, it is as well to remember what he said about Mozart: “His contrapuntal learning merely helps him to be clear. Learning is good only when it leads to naturalness and simplicity.” That is a sentiment he took to heart in his own works. The textures of his three string trios are so interesting that they often sound like quartets but, while they are not exactly simple, they are always natural and never academic. The two-movement String Trio in B minor – which was left unfinished on his death but which has since been completed from the sketches – offers resourcefully contrasted examples in the serious-minded sonata-form Allegro and the seven rattractively scored variations on the Andante melody introduced at the beginning of the second movement.