4 Encores for Piano Trio

Caprice Viennois, The Old Refrain, Miniature Viennese March & Londonderry Air arranged for piano trio

Friedrich 'Fritz' Kreisler (1875-1962), seen playing the piano, needs no introduction. He was one of the most famous violinists of all time. His brother Hugo (1884-1929) was an excellent cellist, who unlike Fritz did not pursue a solo career, but instead worked as an orchestral cellist in the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. Fritz was also a fine pianist and he and Hugo seen above often gave recitals and made recordings together. In addition, they formed a piano trio with the pianist Harold Bauer and made recordings with the pianist Charleton Keith.

Fritz wrote many short pieces for violin and piano which he often used as encores at the end of his concerts. Many of them have become world famous and have been recorded by dozens of violinists since Fritz made the first recordings in the 1920s. For their trio concerts, Fritz and Hugo transcribed and arranged several of these for piano trio. The four pieces we present---Caprice Viennois, The Old Refrain, Miniature Viennese March and Londonderry Air---were all audience favorites, which no doubt is why the Kreisler brothers chose to arrange and present them for their piano trio concerts.

Caprice Viennois, a Kreisler original, is a typical salon type piece popular in Vienna before the First World War. The Old Refrain was actually a popular Viennese tune written by Johann Brandl and reworked by Kreisler. Miniature Viennese March, another Kreisler original, was a humorous take on Vienna life before the war. Londonderry Air is an old Irish folk melody also known as Emer's Fairwell to Cucullain. Cucullain was a legendary Irish hero who was said to have defended Northern Ireland in the first century b.c. The county of Londonderry is in Northern Ireland. The tune was used for the song O Danny Boy. Kreisler reworked Emer's tune written a few years before.