Piano Trio (Ravel)

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Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A minor is a chamber work for piano, violin and cello. It was written in the August of 1914, while the composer was a volunteer truck driver in the First World War. Ravel dedicated the piece to his counterpoint teacher Andre Gedalge. The trio was first performed in Paris in January, 1915, by Alfredo Casella (piano), Gabriel Willaume (violin), and Louis Feuillard (cello).

The piece lasts about thirty minutes, and is influenced by themes both Basque and Oriental. There are four movements:

Modéré
Pantoum (Assez vif)
Passacaille (Tres large)
Final (Animé)

The second movement, Pantoum, refers to a Malaysian poetry form that repeats motifs, relying on context to give them different meanings: this can be heard in the structure of the movement.

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