Robin de Raaff (b. 1968)

Piano Trio
(1996/rev. 2001)

It is a real challenge for a composer to write for one of the more standard and traditional historic ensembles. Like for instance the string quartet, woodwind quintet,  string trio, and of course the piano trio. But somehow  that challenge seems to appeal to Robin de Raaff since he has written a string quartet called ‘Athomus’, a woodwind quintet called ‘Aerea’ as well as a ‘Piano trio’.
But especially this last medium, the Piano trio, seems to perfectly suite the musical language that De Raaff has developed in his more recent work. One element, which is maybe the most outspoken one in De Raaff’s music, is the aspect of layering different rhythmical processes. The Piano trio combines perhaps the most contrasting, almost opposing, sound characteristics in one ensemble. The sound of the ever decaying piano as opposed to the string instruments that, with their bowing technique can do the exact opposite, being crescendo.

This contrast, is the starting point for De Raaff’s urge to layer  seemingly independent musical structures as completely separate entities. But also as more unified entities by  juxtaposition, which is a direct influence from the music of the Renaissance where rhythmical units are often juxtaposed in different speeds, giving a result that fascinates Robin de Raaff. Like in Renaissance music, the rhythms that De Raaff uses to control and determine are often simple rhythmical ratios that construct both the macrostructure and the microstructure, and all scales in between those extremes.
 
But the result is not an abstract musical language, on the contrary, his music seems to have a very clear dramatic direction. Starting with a cello solo, the introduction consists only of the two string instruments, where the piano comes in as a real intruder. But as the piece unfolds, we see the struggle of the instruments to become unified, falling apart again in the very end, leaving us only with the two string instruments revealing a chorale that has been trying to resurface ever since the piece started.