Joaquín Turina, 1882-1949
Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor, Op. 76, 1933
Spain enjoyed a musical "Golden Age" during the Renaissance, after which it was largely overshadowed on the international stage by the prevailing styles from Italy, France and the German speaking countries. It was not until the rise of musical nationalism in the late 19th century that Spain found its voice again with its first modern masters such as Albéniz, Granados and de Falla, whose most well known music was written in the 1900's. It was Albéniz who provided the necessary connections for the younger Joaquín Turina to study in Paris under d'Indy and to publish his first work, a piano quintet. While in Paris, Turina came to know such French masters as Debussy, Ravel and Fauré, leaving an undeniable influence on his own subsequent music. Turina produced a sizable quantity of chamber music including several piano trios, string quartets and sonatas, a piano quartet, two piano quintets and a piano sextet. His most well known works include Circulo for piano trio and La Oración del Torero for string quartet. Written in 1933, Turina's Piano Trio No. 2 in b minor, Op. 76 is one of his three mature piano trios. Lively, sparkling, evocative and concise, it is refreshing for its time, associating on one hand with the classical and romantic piano trio traditions, and, on the other, with the harmony, color and relaxed form of the more recent French and Spanish composers. Distinctively Spanish elements pervade its vocabulary in the form of melodic intervals, harmonic chord progressions and rhythmic patterns, including the middle movement scherzo written in a characteristic Spanish dance meter of 5/8. Even where Turina reminds one of the modern French composers who influenced him, it is worth remembering that both Debussy and Ravel were captivated by the sounds of Andalusia, the flavors and idioms of which Turina could "borrow" back quite naturally and authentically.
All three of Turina's mature piano trios use a three movement form harkening back to the first classical piano trios of Haydn and Mozart. The first movement follows a sonata outline with clear, contrasting themes first in minor, then major keys, followed by a developmental interlude introducing fresh melodic material. The second movement is a brief but dense scherzo based on a spicy dance rhythm, a bright countermelody and a languid trio. The finale is a majestic landscape miniature with all the poetry and perfume of great Spanish music. A rondo, it visits a number of vivid scenes between recurring refrains of a dark, masculine cast. Using a technique that Turina likely acquired from his French schooling, he takes a cyclic look backward in the final episode, recalling all the themes from previous movements before a dazzling entrance into the final, wonderfully elaborated refrain.
