- Trio (1987, rev. 2001) violin, cello, piano 17'
- Commissioned by the Montana Music Teacher's Association.
- Premiere—1988, by the Trio Sine Nomine at the Montana MTA Convention, Missoula, MT.
Program Note
This is a piano trio in traditional forms. As with many pieces in the romantic tradition, it begins in argument and is diverted, with the weight shifted to the finale. After hearing the first movement, a composer friend remarked: "Motivic development! Brahms is your guiding spirit." The movement, marked "Volatile," develops its contrasting materials-a quick five-note W and a mournful phrase-by alternation. Two character pieces follow: an aquatic, diatonic nocturne and a sentimental song, which ends with door banging. There is a wide range of material here: violent chords, toccatas mumbled and shouted, the breezy tune from the second movement, which reappears as a simple string hymn. Finally the tune is treated fugally and in stretto, before being consumed in a blaze of pure harmony.
Trio was composed in 1987 for the Trio Sine Nomine-ensemble in residence at Montana State University Bozeman-on commission from the Montana Music Teachers Association. The members of Trio Sine Nomine at the time were Johan Jonsson, violin, Linda Young, cello and Leslie Jones, piano. It was premiered at the MMTA convention that June. The work was extensively revised in 2000 and 2001 and premiered by Trio Minnesota in Fall, 2001.