Memorandum for Trio Kazunori SATO, Violinist

As a performer, I have always been particularly conscious of the chamber music repertoire. Since my student days, I have been particularly fond of chamber music, and I think I have always found more pleasure in so-called "chamber ensembles," in which several people play together, rather than in solo pieces. When I look back to where the origin of my love for chamber music lies, I find that it was influenced by my boyhood.

My father's wonderful recorded collections of chamber music in CDs and vinyls by the great masters of the past fascinated my ears as a young boy. And also, chamber music can be easily accessible at home because of the fewer number of the players. My younger brother (now a cellist) and I would get our friend, a pianist, involved and play Brahms piano trios and other works, imitating Henryk Szeryng and Pierre Fournier. I remember thinking how difficult it must be for chamber music pianists, because I would always hear the pianist say things like, "It's so difficult, I can't play it. It is no wonder, then, that the origin of  piano trios began as an expanded form of the piano pieces, in which the left-hand part of the piano is accompanied by a cello bass (mainly in unison) for reinforcement and a violin obbligato, and as time went on, each instrument became an independent voice.

This phenomenon is a trend that can be seen in all instrumental works, and is naturally linked to the history of music. Therefore, the workload of a chamber music pianist is extraordinary. Compared to string quartets, which I personally feel are the most difficult type of chamber music, chamber music with piano gives me a sense of surrender to the locomotive of motive power, and I feel that the pianist helps me a lot, or at least gives me a sense of stability in my performance.

The pianist must always have a sense of balance in using several different tones, playing the roles of the left hand and the right hand independently or in sync, interacting with each instrument, and mixing the tones. I am always looking for ways to guide the pianist in his or her playing as a concertmaster in an orchestra, while paying respect to the pianist. Of course, other independent instruments are not always easy. It is our responsibility to create an atmosphere and image that fuses with, and sometimes conflicts with, the tone of the piano to give the pianist freedom and musical space.

Now, in the pieces we will be performing, Dvořák's "Dumky," which is like a collection of dances consisting of folk themes.  It is necessary to colorfully depict the characteristics of each dance piece. Ravel's Trio, which was written just before he served in World War I, will demand the players to find out how we can vividly depict the colorful rhythms in a perfectly structured piece. For Fauré’s piano trio, how can we perform the ultimate trio, a trio that is so simple that it cannot be cut down any further. Fauré's miraculous and serene Trio Op.120, which reaches the ultimate in trios, is like a master's ink painting in which the ever-changing colors must be complemented by our own imagination. This is in contrast to the perfectly arranged colors of Ravel's trios.

As a performer, it is my sincere pleasure to be able to share the music with the audience while fully appreciating each character.　

Musical Dimensionality: Complexity Created by Trio

Satoshi Ogihara OCCA, Professor Emeritus Osaka University

     A trio is a form of performance by three performers. A triangle consisting of three points, i.e., performers, creates a geometrically flat surface. A duo is a form of performance in which two musicians play together. A straight line connects the two points. In the case of a duo, "a certain point of agreement in the performance" for the formation of a higher-order ensemble is defined geometrically somewhere on the line connecting the two points. On the other hand, when we consider where the "point of agreement" is defined in the case of a trio, we can define as many as 5 points on a plane other than those of the players. They are the inner center, outer center, vertical center, center of gravity, and paracenter. In the geometry of a duet, only the coordinates on a straight line connecting two points can be defined, and nothing else can be defined outside of the straight line.

     We, the audience, hear the sound that flows from the performance, but we are not merely listening to the sound that each instrument is playing. We also sense the mental dynamics that form between the performers as they construct the sound, the interactions, signs, and agreements between them. The fact that a trio, in addition to the sound structure itself, creates a very complex and diverse space can be explained when the dimensionality of music is discussed geometrically, can't it? It is not at all clear what the inner center, outer center, vertical center, center of gravity, and paracenter, which I gave as examples, correspond to in musical performance, but that is only because they have not been analyzed, and their existence itself cannot be denied.