Elegy

About

The piano trios by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky form an elegiac, melancholic pair. Rachmaninoff’s first piano trio, written when he was only 18 years old, is in a single movement, developing and fading away in a melancholic mood. Tchaikovsky’s piano trio is dedicated to the memory of his friend and mentor Nikolai Rubinstein, and the mood of the work is also marked by darkness. It is Tchaikovsky’s only piano trio, while Rachmaninoff later composed another one in memory of Tchaikovsky.