After a successful release of Brahms Piano Trios, Audite present a second SACD with the Trio Testore. It sheds light on a moving concept in Russian chamber music as both Tchaikovsky‘s and Rachmaninov‘s works were conceived as dedications and memorials.

Tchaikovsky composed his only Piano Trio in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein, his mentor and friend. He paid tribute to Rubinstein’s pianistic brilliance with the work’s demanding piano part, but integrated it also into the communicative context with two equal partners: symbolically, the virtuoso receives support and stimulation from them.

Rachmaninov took this two-movement work and its fundamentally elegiac character as a model when he composed his First Piano Trio. Even at the tender age of 17 he was able to mould essential elements of his style and melodic invention. The history of the dedications of the works determines their individual form and their personal, passionate message.