Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66

This is the trio that tends to hide behind its celebrated D minor sibling, yet some connoisseurs argue it is the stronger work. The first movement opens immediately with swirling piano figures while the strings hold sustained, threatening chords, establishing a level of nervous tension that is, by Mendelssohn's standards, unusually sustained and dark. Composed in 1845, two years before Mendelssohn's death, it was the last chamber work he saw published, and the finale contains a surprise: a Lutheran chorale melody, introduced quietly by the piano, which returns near the end in full force with giant chords, pushing the music toward a confident, even triumphant close.

What to listen for

In the first movement's coda, the strings play an augmented version of the main theme, where the notes are stretched to twice their length, while the piano simultaneously plays the theme at its original speed, creating two interlocking layers from the same material. In the finale, track the cello's opening leap, an upward jump of a ninth that overshoot a full octave, and notice how it reappears in different characters, sometimes forceful, sometimes playful, before the chorale cuts through at full volume to close the work.

Recommended rendition

The Florestan Trio (Anthony Marwood, violin; Richard Lester, cello; Susan Tomes, piano) on Hyperion CDA67485 has been praised for its balance of fleetness and reflective depth in both Mendelssohn trios.

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