Piano Trio No. 1: Illusive Years
The Aquinas Piano Trio
..."in short, a joy to hear." The Strad
The world première of Illusive Years took place on Friday 30th May 1997 at London's Purcell Room, under the original title of Sonata for Piano Trio. The première was given by the Dussek Piano Trio featuring violinist Lorraine McAslan. It was included in a programme with piano trios by Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
Michael Dussek
Composer's Introduction
Illusive Years (Sonata for Piano Trio) has a distinctive structure with the emphasis on the number ‘three’. Three musical subjects open the work, each of which goes on to form the basis of a different movement. The last is a Rondo, with three episodes. I have rarely observed such structures since writing this work!
The work was begun in 1995 and coincided with the death of my mother. I expected it to take on a melancholic character, but with the exception of the introduction to the second movement, it generally reflects an imagined youth and dance-like energy, marked by the change of title for this final revision which was prepared for its recording in October 2020 with the Aquinas Piano Trio.