Anton Webern (1883-1945) - String Trio

Recorded Live on 19th February 2015 - The University of Manchester Psappha Ensemble Benedict Holland - violin Heather Wallington - viola Jennifer Langridge - cello Anton Webern (1883-1945) String Trio I. Sehr langsam II. Sehr getragen und ausdrucksvoll The String Trio was composed between 1926 and 1927. Webern had originally planned to write a three movement piece but, as he noted in his diary in June 1927, ’after much deliberation I have arrived at the difficult decision to give up the planned third movement’. Having decided that the work should consist of only two movements he then exchanged the order of the movements so that the original second movement (a slow Rondo) became the first and the sonata form first movement the second. Webern’s three earlier twelve note works (,18 and 19) had all been songs; in returning to instrumental music Webern was able, as he said in a letter to Berg, ’once more to write long stretches of music