The first movement is very Romantically charged, with rich harmonies, dense textures and broad melodies. To be sure, it is in my style of dissonant tonality, sometimes very chordal and traditional and sometimes, when I felt it was appropriate, most strikingly dissonant. Composers of previous centuries would utilise the techniques and language of older composers, adding freely to them in their own more modern styles, and so do I. I have come to regard tonality/atonality and consonance/dissonance as merely expressive devices, and I think modern audiences are coming to a similar acceptance. Just listen to certain movie scores (Freddie Kruger, for example) and you will soon come to see why audiences are more open to new musical sounds!

The second movement is the one that gives this trio its nickname, "The Armenian". In writing, in 2016, a theatre piece based on the life of St. Gregory of Armenia (known as "The Illuminator"), I came across a lullaby called "Ruri, Ruri" and fell in love with it. I used it of course in that work, and have set it once more here in this trio. I've set it for mixed choir also. There are various renditions of this song on Youtube, quite different from one another. I have chosen a 5/4 version, and several others may be heard by following the links there.

The last movement is a circus polka, energetic to the point of mania, and requiring a strong left hand on the part of the pianist. This section should be great fun for any players who can hack it! It gets some of its inspiration from the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #2, one of whose movements starts fast and furious and just keeps growing. I decided to do that, and you can decide how successful I was.