Trio for Oboe, Horn, and Piano

The composer has provided the following comments about the Trio for Oboe, Horn, and Piano: "Until recently chamber music for this combination of instruments was rare; only a trio by Carl Reinecke was heard occasionally. Orchestrally, however, the horn and oboe were often paired at the octave by Schumann, Richard Strauss and especially by Brahms. By combining two such disparate tone qualities the composer and performers can use the contrast in sounds to advantage rather than working to make them blend in the conventional sense. The piano is heard here in several roles-soloist, accompanist, provider of harmony, volume, rhythmic percussion and smooth lyricism.

"The first movement has several capricious shifts of texture and speed with solo passages for each instrument. In the second movement the aria is sung first by the horn, then by the oboe, and after a piano interlude, by the two wind instruments together. The third movement consists of constantly changing intervals and rhythmic fragments, often pointillistic and percussive.

"This trio was commissioned in 1990 by the International Horn Society and Peter Kurau."

As in all of Prof. Reynolds's works employing piano he has stated that the pedaling must be strictly observed to create the timbres he desired. The Trio for Oboe, Horn, and Piano was premiered by John Snow, oboe; W. Peter Kurau, horn; and Joseph Werner, piano on 20 January 1991, at a chamber music concert at the Unitarian Church in Rochester, New York.