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Concluding Remarks

It is clear that Hurlstone had always intended the Trio to be a four-movement work with the outer movements in the order now proposed. Musically, it makes a great deal of sense to incorporate the original scheme. If one has been used to performing the incomplete version then a word of caution is due: one should reassess the entire piece in its revised setting. The approach to the newly positioned first and last movements will need to accommodate the enlarged format. Particular care should be exercised in the choice of tempi. The Scherzo has multiple harmonic changes within each bar, which suggests a three-beat measure rather than one for this 3/8 movement - compare this with the trio sections to Beethoven's String Quartet Op 59 no1. The dangers in turning the Scherzo into a Mendelssohnian A Midsummer Night's Dream - Scherzo are that the harmonic changes will not be heard; and the piece will be concluded by the Scherzo, leaving the fourth movement isolated.


There are few references to the Trio other than those by Katharine Hurlstonei and Thomas Dunhillii. Two post-war dissertations - Gillermaniii and Kirbyiv - acknowledge the existence of the Scherzo. However Gillerman does not discuss the Trio and treats the Scherzo as an independent work. Kirby discusses both but dismisses the inclusion of the Scherzo with the Trio on stylistic grounds. He does not consider the effect of exchanging the outer movements, which radically affects one's conception of the entire Trio in G Minor.


The Scherzo is being made generally available by Emerson Edition (E404) as an interim supplement to the Trio pending the publication of a major revision that incorporates the corrigenda and missing movement. The Variations in G Minor for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano has been typeset and may be published by Emerson edition at a future date.



i K. Hurlstone p. 58.

ii K. Hurlstone p. 64.

iii Gillerman p. 178.

iv Kirby p. 37.

 

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