William Thomas McKinley Collection • MS 101
Volume I: The Complete Piano Trios
McKinley’s three piano trios offer a cross-section of the his compositional journey over time. From an early period, American modernist sound found in the first piano trio of 1963 through to the more neo-romantic approach of his second and third trios.
The album features the sublime playing of The Janáček Trio, who bring the intricate detail of this varied collection of trios to life in vibrant colors and textures.
Also available through these outlets:
Biographies
The Janáček Trio
Markéta Janácková, piano
Irena Jakubcová, violin
Jan Keller, violoncello
Founded in 2001 by pianist Markéta Janáčková, the JANÁČEK TRIO made its first public appearance in the same year. Since then the Trio has been representing Czech music in successful concert performances both abroad and in its home country. Composed of violinist Irena Jakubcová, cellist Jan Keller and pianist Markéta Janáčková.
The Trio assumed the name of the famous Czech composer in 2005 with the agreement of the Leoš Janáček Foundation.The trio’s most prestigious performances include their concert as part of the “Concerts autour de Janáček” in the Opera National-Studio Bastille in Paris; a concert of the Fundación Juan March in Madrid where the Trio was invited as the only Czech ensemble to perform in conclusion of a Czech Music series; the Trio´s appearances in the Prague Premieres series held by the Czech Philharmonic in the Prague´s Rudolfinum Concert Hall; a concert in the Suk Hall of the Rudolfinum as part of the Czech Chamber Music Society where the Trio performed the Piano Trio by Alfred Schnittke at a Czech premiere; participation in the Janáček´s May festival, in the Nocturnos of Třeboň festival, the Ludwig van Beethoven´s Festival, to name but a few.
The Janáček Trio has also been presented at the MIDEM Music Fair in Cannes, France, where it appeared in the Talent Only series. The Trio made concert tours in Canada, Germany, and Denmark. With the support of the Alianz Insurance Company, the Leoš Janáček Foundation and the Artist´s Life Foundation, the Janáček Trio held a series of chamber music concerts in Prague´s St Lawrence Church, a traditional Prague Spring venue, where it also performed complete works for violin, cello and piano by Leoš Janáček.
The Trio´s repertoire spans music styles from baroque to the 21st century, focussing on the works by Czech composers, and also premiering contemporary Czech music. Thus the Trio premiered Trio Boemo by Zdeněk Lukáš in the Opera National, Paris, and new compositions were dedicated to the Trio, written by Jiří Gemrot, Ivo Bláha and Milan Slavický respectively.
The Janáček Trio makes frequent recordings for the Czech Radio, and has cooperated with such orchestral bodies as the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc. With the support of the Alianz Insurance Company, in 2006 the Trio made their first CD of the works by Antonín Dvořák, Josef Suk and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This successful disk paved the way to another recording, this time a CD of Alfred Schnittke´s chamber works for Praga Digitals (Harmonia Mundi stores, the French label) which was made to mark the 10 years‘ anniversary of the composer´s death. This CD has received a high critical acclaim in prestigious international music magazines such as Diapason, Ensemble, Strad, Opus Haute Definition, as well as in local ones, such as Hudební rozhledy, and in the Czech Radio programme called Rondo. The Trio´s most recent CD is a digital recording of complete piano trios by the Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster which was released under the Supraphon label to a positive critical acclaim.
Irena Jakubcová, Czech Philharmonic 1st assistant concertmaster, coming from a musical family, she performs as chamber player at concert venues both in her native Czech Republic and abroad, she has been a member of Janáček Trio since 2011.
Jan Keller, Czech Philharmonic member, he is also involved in jazz (Night Optics, Transitus Irregularis, Jana Koubková Quartet). Since 2016 he is also a member of the chamber orchestra Haydn ensemble. He has been teaching at the Prague Conservatory.
Markéta Janáčková, pianist and music director. As music director she has been cooperating with the Czech Radio, Czech TV, Czech Philharmonic etc. As pianist she performs at concerts in Czech Republic and abroad and makes recordings for Czech Radio. Her teaching activities include piano instruction at the English International School of Prague.
Recording Credits
Recorded March 2019, June 2022, and June 2023 at Studio Martinek (Prague, Czechia)
Engineer: Jan Ličžař.
Recording Producers: Milan Pulický (trios 1 and 2); Jiří Gemrot (trio 3)
Mastering Engineer: John Weston at Futura Productions (Roslindale, MA)
Executive Producer: Elliott Miles McKinley
Liner Notes
Piano Trio No. 2 (1991)
Nearly three decades separate the composition of the first and second piano trios which also show a marked growth and difference between the two works. Whereas McKinley composed his first trio that reveled in modernism, the second is a work that blends neo-romanticism the chromaticism reminiscent of Brahms' second and third trios.
Dedicated to the Golan-Kaplan-Carr Trio, this work is cast in three distinctive movements. Whereas Trio No. 1 has melodic fabric built on brief patterns, the second's trio’s material embodies longer melodic lines. The first movement, while it does not follow the form of a strict classical sonata, develops the opening material and themes in a similar fashion. The second movement is an assortment of musical thoughts ranging from a demonic dance to an exalted, waltz-like second subject. McKinley decides to disrupt the train of thought by segueing to other sections which intensify until the coda. An autumnal, yet sentimental tango opens the third movement, its bold romantic aura gives way to a frenetic section complete with jagged rhythms and bustling neo-classicism recalling the composer's early infatuation with Stravinsky.
Piano Trio No. 1 (1963)
Written in the spring of 1963, McKinley's first trio may be heard as a “crossroads” work. Freeing himself from the influences found in his earlier music, influenced by his teacher Nikolai Lopatnikoff, the work reveals a taut structure, compressing the traditional classical layout of a three or four movement work into one movement.
The trio's introduction uses jagged rhythmic aggregation and free chromaticism, featuring the development os small melodic ideas. This leads to the next section, scherzo-like, where the material continues to undergo melodic and rhythmic transfigurations. The final section is slow and reflective, with a nocturnal quietude leading to an ambiguous conclusion.
Piano Trio No. 3 (2014)
Unlike the first and second trios, the third trio is a large-scale, epic work. Titled “Trio in Five Movements”, McKinley was commissioned by the Ellipsis Trio. The work was composed during the late summer and early fall of 2014 shortly before the composer’s death.
Perhaps the most personal work in this set, the five movements cover a wide range of styles and moods. The first movement, distant land (like e.e. cummings's poems, all of the movements' titles are in lower case) is a languid song where the strings surround the pianist's jazz harmonies and mysterious colors. A brief reappearance of the movement's opening material leads to a sudden and unexpected ending.
Bitonal chords are the basis of the second movement titled here's the beat. A scherzo of intense dynamism where sonic density trades off with linear and spatial chromaticism, brusquely interrupted by short slow passages.
The music in silk, the central third movement, is reminiscent of the slow movements found in Beethoven's middle and late period piano sonatas and string quartets. Near-opaque timbres and colors weave through the movement, the climaxes constrained, leading to a coda that slowly fades into infinity.
downtown walk, the trio's second scherzo, is built on a walking-bass, with polytonal features. The movement explores the lower range of the strings playing fragmented phrases, possibly recalling moments of film noir.
Unlike the tango of the second trio, tango sonata is not only more languid, but also more nostalgic and evocative of a summer night. The end the movement recalls the third movement's coda, drifting into silence.
-- Kevin L. Scott (November 2024, New York).
Composer and conductor Kevin Scott was born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan’s Harlem. His music has been performed by numerous American orchestras and was the recipient of the 1992 Detroit Symphony/Unisys African American Composers’ Forum award. Scott’s interest in composition was kindled while he was attending Christopher Columbus High School, educating himself in composition that ensued in readings of his first compositions by the school’s orchestra and band. Upon graduation in 1974, Scott began formal lessons in composition with John Corigliano and Ulysses Kay at Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx, and continued his studies at the Mannes College of Music with Christine Berl and David Tcimpidis, in addition to conducting with Yakov Kreizberg. In addition to his works for orchestra and the theatre, Scott has also composed music for chorus, wind ensemble, chamber ensemble and voice, in addition to music for numerous independent films. His sixth string quartet from 1995 was the product of the first William Grant Still Memorial Commission, sponsored by St. Augustine’s College and Duke University and premiered by the Ciompi Quartet. Scott is presently on the faculty of SUNY Orange County Community College in Middletown, New York, where he is the director of that college’s band program. Scott’s thoughts as a composer and conductor are reflected in William Banfield’s book Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers, published by Greenwood Press.