The B-flat major Trio manages to be profoundly charming without ever descending to nostalgia or kitsch. Time, though producing much that is beautiful, will not soon produce another Schubert!” Let the work, which he bequeathed to us, be a cherished inheritance. “One glance at Schubert’s Trio,” he continued of this piece, “and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again. Wearing his critic’s hat, Robert Schumann described it as “passive, lyrical, and feminine,” as compared to the “more spirited, masculine, and dramatic tone” of the one in E-flat major. But what forty minutes they are! Nowhere does Schubert’s melodic inspiration wear thin, and the work’s structural felicities keep the alert listener perpetually engaged. The B-flat major Trio, on the other hand, comes across as more perfect in its proportions, although it, too, is leisurely, evolving over the course of some forty minutes. It is a splendid piece, but it has come into a fair share of criticism for being overly luxurious in its length, and modern performances usually involve some judicious trimming. Schubert seems to have esteemed the E-flat major work more highly, since he chose it to be the centerpiece of the only public all-Schubert concert to be held during his lifetime, in March 1828. Dating its B-flat major companion is trickier, but evidence suggests that it was composed immediately beforehand. We know that Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat major was completed in November 1827, since he inscribed that date on his manuscript. Schubert: Trio in B-flat major for Violin, Cello, and Piano, D.898įranz Schubert (1797-1828) wrote two piano trios, both of them intimate yet towering masterpieces, both summations of his music at its best, both created by a composer who was only thirty years old, both the products of a genius who had little more than a year left to live.

B flat minor cello