Voilinist Leonid Kerbel, pianist Eliane Reyes and cellist Aleksandr Khramouchin continue to ignite their overwhelming enthusiasm for chamber music making.
This dynamic ensemble is bringing the art of chamber music playing to its highest level. Their depth of interpretation, originality of musicianship and an intelligent choice of repertoire distinguish the Trio Sonnetto.
The Trio has not limited their repertoire to one specific style of music. Variety and a constant change in different musical styles bring Trio Sonnetto with their audiences to discover the endless palette of musical colours.
Guided and supported by the eminent pianist Paul Badura-Skoda, Trio Sonnetto is exploring the finest nuances of chamber music artistry. Individually these three talented musicians are winners of International and National competitions and lead a solo career as well.
Is the piano trio formation considered as a chamber music ensemble? Piano trio involves three musicians who, in most works, contribute more or less equally to the music. The process of music making is no diffirent from any other kind of chamber music ensemble, but it differs by the ability of each player to express himself as a soloist as well.
The piano trios of the Classical era, notably those of Haydn, are dominated by the piano part. The violin only plays the melody a certain amount of the time, and is often doubled by the piano when it does. The cello partis very much subordinated, usually just doubling the bass line in the piano. It is thought that this practice was quite intentional on Haydn's part and was related to the sorority of the instruments of Haydn's day: the piano was fairly weak and "tinkling" in tone, and benefited from the tonal strengthening of other instruments. Mozart's earlier trios are also rather dominated by the piano part.
With time, a new ideal of piano trio composition arose, in which each of the three instruments was supposed to contribute equally to the music. This is seen, for instance, in Beethoven's trios, and was likely in part the result of the increase in the power and sorority of the piano to play independently in an ensemble. The new idea of equalitywas never implemented completely; the extent to which it is realized varies from one composition to the next, as well as among movements within a single composition. Certainly by the mid ninoteenth century, all three instruments had been modified to have a very powerfull sound, and each can hold its own in a modern ensemble.
The earlier trios are now frequently performed and recorded using authentic instruments, of the kind for which they were originally written. Such performances restore the sonic balance the coposer would have expected, and have proven popular.