Tchaikovsky Piano Trio by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, P. I., Ds. 18 Nov. 2023, De (2023/2023), Holywell Music Room, Oxford, United Kingdom

Tchaikovsky once dismissed the combination of piano, violin and cello as unworkable. But when his friend and mentor Nikolai Rubinstein died, Tchaikovsky changed tack dramatically. In Rubinstein’s memory, a piano trio of extraordinary potency and profundity emerged deep from within Tchaikovsky’s soul. The resulting work is symphonic in scale and theatrical in drama, combining heroism and euphoria with the deepest human pain and pathos. Marios Papadopoulos joins members of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra to traverse the two colossal movements of Tchaikovsky’s chamber music masterpiece, after opening with the elegant piano trio from Beethoven’s very first opus.