PolyU Orchestra • Music Connects – Piano Trio in B flat major, K 502 – I Allegro

Piano Trio
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart︳Piano Trio in B flat major, K 502 – I Allegro

Performed by:
Benjamin Leung Kai-hong · Violin
Alumnus, Department of Building Services Engineering

Dr Virginia Li Meng · Piano
Staff, Confucius Institute of Hong Kong

Benny Lam Yip-chun · Cello
Alumnus, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences

The piano’s popularity spread quickly, but it was not until the mid-1780s that it caught on in Vienna, and much of the credit for popularising it there is down to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) who had settled in the city in 1781 and showcased the instrument in a series of concertos and chamber works. One of those latter was the Piano Trio in B flat major, K 502, which dates from 1786. Unlike previous trios, in which the keyboard instrument had merely accompanied the violin and cello, this Trio treated the piano not only as an equal, but at times almost as the principal soloist; a kind of pared-down piano concerto.