Program Notes

Unlike the first and second trios, the third trio is a large-scale, epic work. Titled “Trio in Five Movements”, McKinley was commissioned by the Ellipsis Trio. The work was composed during the late summer and early fall of 2014 shortly before the composer’s death.

Perhaps the most personal work in this set, the five movements cover a wide range of styles and moods. The first movement, distant land (like e.e. cummings's poems, all of the movements' titles are in lower case) is a languid song where the strings surround the pianist's jazz harmonies and mysterious colors. A brief reappearance of the movement's opening material leads to a sudden and unexpected ending.

Bitonal chords are the basis of the second movement titled here's the beat. A scherzo of intense dynamism where sonic density trades off with linear and spatial chromaticism, brusquely interrupted by short slow passages.

The music in silk, the central third movement, is reminiscent of the slow movements found in Beethoven's middle and late period piano sonatas and string quartets. Near-opaque timbres and colors weave through the movement, the climaxes constrained, leading to a coda that slowly fades into infinity.

downtown walk, the trio's second scherzo, is built on a walking-bass, with polytonal features. The movement explores the lower range of the strings playing fragmented phrases, possibly recalling moments of film noir.

Unlike the tango of the second trio, tango sonata is not only more languid, but also more nostalgic and evocative of a summer night. The end the movement recalls the third movement's coda, drifting into silence.

—Kevin L. Scott (November 2024, New York).