Rachmaninov: Trios elégiaques

Sergey Rachmaninov’s two Elegiac Trios became the pinnacle of Russian musical symbolism, forming an epigraph to the revolutionary upheavals that split Russian civilisation and Rachmaninov’s life in two. The moods of nostalgia and echoes of soulful longing found in these works are infused with ideas of death. The beautiful theme of the Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor transforms into a funeral march in the epilogue, while the complex Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor is a memorial to Tchaikovsky filled with powerfully prophetic symbols most notably the Dies irae motif.