Concluding Remarks
It
is clear that Hurlstone had always intended
the Trio to be a four-movement
work with the outer movements in the
order now proposed. Musically, it makes
a great deal of sense to incorporate
the original scheme. If one has been
used to performing the incomplete version
then a word of caution is due: one should
reassess the entire piece in its revised
setting. The approach to the newly positioned
first and last movements will need to
accommodate the enlarged format. Particular
care should be exercised in the choice
of tempi. The Scherzo has multiple
harmonic changes within each bar, which
suggests a three-beat measure rather
than one for this 3/8 movement - compare
this with the trio sections to Beethoven's
String Quartet Op 59 no1. The
dangers in turning the Scherzo into
a Mendelssohnian
A Midsummer Night's
Dream - Scherzo are that
the harmonic changes will not be heard;
and the piece will be concluded by the
Scherzo, leaving the fourth movement
isolated.
There
are few references to the Trio other
than those by Katharine Hurlstonei
and Thomas Dunhillii.
Two post-war dissertations - Gillermaniii
and Kirbyiv
- acknowledge the existence of the
Scherzo. However
Gillerman does not discuss the
Trio and treats the Scherzo
as an independent work. Kirby discusses
both but dismisses the inclusion of
the Scherzo with the Trio
on stylistic grounds. He does not
consider the effect of exchanging the
outer movements, which radically affects
one's conception of the entire Trio
in G Minor.
The
Scherzo is
being made generally available by Emerson
Edition (E404) as an interim supplement
to the Trio
pending the publication of a major revision
that incorporates the corrigenda and
missing movement. The Variations
in G Minor for Clarinet, Bassoon and
Piano
has been typeset and may be published
by Emerson edition at a future date.
