Piano Trio (1976) by Olly Wilson
for violin, cello, and piano

Trio was commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Music Society's Norman Fromm Composers Award and was premiered by the San Francisco Trio in 1977. The work consists of a central movement framed by a very short introductory movement that is repeated at the conclusion of the central movement as a postlude. The central movement opens with a largo section in which germinal elements of the basic musical materials used in the piece are presented in a manner characterized by a static quality. This static quality is brought about primarily by the lack of a discernible pulse and a slow rate of change of musical events. Following a brief pause, this section gradually evolves into a contrasting allegro section in which a musical motive characterized by a strong rhythmic pulse eventually emerges. The remainder of the movement is based on the simultaneous development of these two musical ideas and an exploration of their interaction. This exploration includes various means of organizing musical time along a continuum from a static to a propulsive rhythmic quality.