Coaching a New Piano Trio
I’m here with 3 Royal College of Music postgrads; Daniel (piano), Lotte (cello) and Sangbin (violin), who I’ve not actually worked with before. We were in the East Parry room, a performance space right at the top of the Royal College. Looking out of the window on one side you see the Royal Albert Hall.
This first time, we had just an hour. They’re a very promising group, all of them approaching really intelligently, with great dedication. All players are very advanced instrumentalists. You can really help them get very deep into the music, because they have no technical challenges. It’s working with a marvellous material already. I can really push forward and challenge them in a musical sense. We did some really good work in a very short space of time.
It’s lovely when you get to the heart of good heart ideas in a very short space of time.
Schubert E Flat Piano Trio
They played the slow movement of the E flat piano trio by Schubert – which needs a lot of sustaining. It doesn’t play itself. It’s quite protracted music and so you have to sustain it with really intelligent ideas about phrasing, about how you produce your sound, how the piano and strings can play together, because of course, they’re such different instruments to each other, but they must blend together.
Comparing string quartet with piano trio
It’s easier in a string quartet because you have four instruments in the same family. In a piano trio, you have two stringed instruments. The action of the piano and the way it produces everything is completely different. Piano has to learn from strings and vice versa. They need imitate each other when necessary and be very different at other points in the music. It takes a lot of thought, observation and listening.
I teach at Royal of Music, London and Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Find out more about my private teaching for amateurs, professionals and in person and online via Zoom.