Schubert: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 Oliver Schnyder Trio

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 2 in E-Flat Major, D. 929:
• 1 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 2 in E-Flat Major, D. 929: I. Allegro 15:15
• 2 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 2 in E-Flat Major, D. 929: II. Andante con moto 09:34
• 3 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 2 in E-Flat Major, D. 929: III. Scherzo. Allegro moderato - Trio 06:55
• 4 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 2 in E-Flat Major, D. 929: IV. Allegro moderato 19:12
• Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 1 in B-Flat Major, D. 898:
• 5 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 1 in B-Flat Major, D. 898: I. Allegro moderato 14:40
• 6 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 1 in B-Flat Major, D. 898: II. Andante un poco mosso 10:56
• 7 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 1 in B-Flat Major, D. 898: III. Scherzo. Allegro 06:34
• 8 Schubert: Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 1 in B-Flat Major, D. 898: IV. Rondo. Allegro vivace 08:44
• Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965:
• 9 Schubert: Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965 13:03
• Schwanengesang, D. 957, No. 4:
• 10 Schubert: Schwanengesang, D. 957, No. 4: Ständchen (Leise flehen meine Lieder) 03:54
• Total Runtime 01:48:47

Info for Schubert: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2

The newly formed Oliver Schnyder Trio presents its first joint production. Three outstanding artists have come together here: the soloists of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Andreas Janke (violin) and Benjamin Nyffenegger (cello), and the pianist Oliver Schnyder, who, among other accolades, received the "Choc" award for his recording of Haydn concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. On its debut CD, the Oliver Schnyder Trio dedicates itself to Franz Schubert's Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2. These are among his late works, composed during the last two years of his life. The first piano trio was written in the year of Beethoven's death, a year before Schubert's own passing. What is fascinating about this work is that it shares the same key and range as Beethoven's last piano trio. Beyond that, however, Schubert's characteristic compositional style shines through in the numerous harmonic surprises and the lyrical and songlike moments. The special occasion for the Piano Trio No. 1 was the engagement party of his friend Joseph Spaun to Franziska Röner, and the work was performed by three of Schubert's friends.

The second Piano Trio was composed during his work on "Winterreise" and differs significantly from the first. Its proximity to the song cycle of "Winterreise" is evident in its harmonically extreme turns and dramatic intensity.

The Oliver Schnyder Trio performs these two contrasting works with nuance, vibrancy, and captivating energy.

As an encore, the program includes Schubert's most famous songs, arranged for piano, violin, and cello.

Oliver Schnyder Trio

Oliver Schnyder
studied in Switzerland with Emmy Henz-Diémand and Homero Francesch, as well as in the United States with Ruth Laredo (New York) and Leon Fleisher (Baltimore).

Since winning the Grand Prize at the Pembaur Competition in Berne (1999) and making his debuts at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. (2000) and with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman (2002, Orpheum Young Soloists on Stage), he has performed in many of the most renowned concert halls across Europe, North America, and Asia. These include Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Kennedy Center, Moscow Great Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall, Cologne Philharmonie, Bozar Brussels, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Munich Philharmonie and Herkulessaal, KKL Luzern, Copenhagen Koncerthuset, Strathmore Music Center, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Tokyo Toppan Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Hong Kong City Hall, Taipei National Concert Hall, Victoria Hall, LAC Lugano, Wigmore Hall, and many more. He has also appeared at prestigious festivals such as the Lucerne Festival (including Le Piano Symphonique), Gstaad (Menuhin Festival and Sommets Musicaux), Verbier, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Schwarzenberg and Hohenems (Schubertiade), Schwetzingen, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Montreux-Vevey (Septembre Musical), LiedBasel, Klosters Music Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Linz (Brucknerfest), and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Schnyder has performed with orchestras such as the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Israel Sinfonietta, Korean Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the South West German and Württemberg Chamber Orchestras, the Württemberg Philharmonic, as well as with all the leading Swiss symphony and chamber orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors including Francesco Angelico, Howard Arman, John Axelrod, Alexandre Bloch, Ivor Bolton, Douglas Bostock, Douglas Boyd, Semyon Bychkov, Josep Caballé Domenech, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Fabien Gabel, James Gaffigan, Howard Griffiths, Philippe Jordan, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Michail Jurowski, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Jac van Steen, David Stern, Muhai Tang, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Mario Venzago, and David Zinman.

With the Oliver Schnyder Trio (Andreas Janke, violin, and Benjamin Nyffenegger, cello), he maintains an international presence. As a chamber musician and song accompanist, he has worked with artists such as Benjamin Appl, Yulianna Avdeeva, Daniel Behle, Guy Braunstein, Marc Bouchkov, Carmina Quartet, Wolfram Christ, Veronika Eberle, Endellion Quartet, Julia Fischer, Homero Francesch, Vilde Frang, Sol Gabetta, Gringolts Quartet, Martin Grubinger, Barbara Hannigan, Rachel Harnisch, Heinz Holliger, Daniel Hope, Maximilian Hornung, Henning Kraggerud, Roby Lakatos, Jens Peter Maintz, Nils Mönkemeyer, Regula Mühlemann, Lena Neudauer, Burhan Öcal, Andreas Ottensamer, Alina Pogostkina, Christian Poltéra, Julian Rachlin, Lars Anders Tomter, Rudens Turku, Lise de la Salle, Antje Weithaas, Jörg Widmann, Jacques Zoon, among others.

Schnyder has recorded solo works by Bach (“Goldberg Variations”), Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Fauré, Grieg, Schumann, and Liszt for Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal, Prospero, Telos, Berlin Classics, and Capriccio. He has also recorded piano concertos by Haydn (Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields), Mozart (Camerata Bern), Fauré (Basel Symphony Orchestra, Ivor Bolton), Saint-Saëns (argovia philharmonic, Douglas Bostock), Bruch (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Howard Griffiths), the complete piano concertos of Mendelssohn (Musikkollegium Winterthur, Douglas Boyd), the complete piano concertos of Beethoven (Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, James Gaffigan), as well as the complete piano trios of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Smetana, Shostakovich, and Dvořák’s “Dumky Trio” with the OST. Many of his recordings have received awards, including the German Record Critics’ Award, KulturSPIEGEL’s Annual Best List, Diapason, Choc, Fono Forum’s Star of the Month, Pizzicato Supersonic Award, and CH Media’s Best Swiss Classical Album of the Year.

Schnyder also appears as a pianist and actor in Heinz Bütler’s essay films Brennender Sommer (with Daniel Behle, Sibylle Lewitscharoff, Alain Claude Sulzer, and Peter Simonischek) and Malstunden bei Raffael (with Endo Anaconda), both of which premiered at the Zurich Film Festival and were successfully screened in Swiss cinemas.

Oliver Schnyder was the artistic director of the Davos Festival and is currently the artistic director of the Orpheum Foundation Zurich, co-founder and artistic co-director of the Piano District recital series (together with music manager Thomas Pfiffner), as well as co-artistic director of the Lenzburgiade Festival alongside his partner Fränzi Frick. He gives masterclasses across Europe and overseas.

Andreas Janke
is the principal concertmaster of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He was born into a family of German and Japanese musicians in Munich and studied in Igor Ozim’s masterclass at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with the Hagen Quartet. Even as a young musician he was already winning prizes at international competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna and the Prague Spring Competition. As a solo artist he has appeared in many leading venues in Europe and Asia, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Munich Philharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Zurich Tonhalle and the Taipei National Concert Hall, while the orchestras with which he has performed include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He is additionally a welcome visitor both as a soloist and as a chamber recitalist at many national and international festivals. Among his chamber partners have been Julia Fischer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Martin Grubinger, Vilde Frang, Jörg Widmann and Martin Fröst. In 2013 he was appointed professor of violin at the Zurich University of the Arts. He gives regular masterclasses both at home and abroad. Andreas Janke performs on the “Hozier–Andrews” violin made by Carlo Bergonzi in Cremona between 1733 and 1739 and placed at his disposal by Mercedes-Benz Automobil AG of Zurich.

Benjamin Nyffenegger
has been principal cellist with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra since 2008. His international career as a soloist and as a chamber musician – including as cellist with the Julia Fischer Quartet – has taken him to leading centres of music in Europe and Asia. Among these venues have been London’s Wigmore Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Munich’s Prinzregententheater, the Vienna Musikverein, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle and the Taipei National Concert Hall. Among the major international festivals where he has performed are the Schwetzingen Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the Frankfurt Festival, the Linz Bruckner Festival, the Septembre Musical Festival in Montreux, the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade and the Pärnu Festival. Among the chamber musicians with whom Benjamin Nyffenegger has shared a platform are Leif Ove Andsnes, Yulianna Avdeeva, Daniel Hope, Marc Bouchkov, Sarah Chang, Wolfram Christ, Vilde Frang, Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas, Maximilian Hornung, Daniel Müller-Schott, Alina Pogostkina, Maxim Rysanov, Jörg Widmann and William Youn. As a soloist he has performed with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Berne Symphony Orchestra, the Winterthur Musikkollegium, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He has also worked for numerous public broadcasting corporations throughout the whole of Europe. His first teacher was Magdalena Sterki-Hauri, after which he studied with Walter Grimmer at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he completed his studies under Thomas Grossenbacher in 2005, graduating with a diploma in concert performing. Benjamin Nyffenegger is artistic director of the SeetalClassics series of concerts at Seon in Switzerland.

Booklet for Schubert: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2