Michael Glinka(1804–1857)

Michail Glinka 1804-1857) is generally regarded as the founder of a national Russian musical culture, which was expressed above all in his opera works. His only piano trio, the Trio pathétique in D minor from 1826/27 with the distinctive wind instrumentation clarinet and bassoon instead of the usual string pair violin and violoncello, is to be counted among his early works in view of the rather hesitant initial creative power of the master and, despite bold modulation and other individual peculiarities, still lacks the typical Russian melody. Despite some «generosity» in formal terms - the final movement, for example, is quite short - the piano trio captivates with its richness of tension and a certain «romantic» drama, which is due to the skilful use of both the wind instruments - especially the clarinet - and the (partly virtuosically treated) piano.
The transfer of the bassoon part for viola makes it possible to cast Mozart's Kegelstatt-Trio with its delicate harmony of clarinet and viola. The additionally enclosed violin part (instead of clarinet) expands the instrumentation possibilities, among other things also to the piano trio in normal instrumentation, since the original bassoon part can be easily played by the violoncello.