Pruden's String Trio testifies to the influence of British composer Benjamin Frankel had on several New Zealand composers. Written by Pruden while he studied under Frankel, at the Guildhall School of Music, London in the early 1950s, this work lends itself to influences of Eastern Europe and Béla Bartók. This edition, based on the painstakingly edited version presented in Pruden's Collected Edition, is now presented as a performance set. While it was originally written for professional musicians, this work is suitable for advanced chamber music students.
With Douglas Lilburn, John Ritchie and others, Larry Pruden belongs to the earliest generation of New Zealand composers to discover a genuine vernacular, and in his music is reflected the trail-blazing spirit of the pioneers, their passion for creativity and their rebelliousness of spirit. Throughout his output, whether the music is modest in scale and purely functional (civic fanfares and radio advertising jingles, for example) or more extended and overtly ‘serious’ in tone (such as the larger works for orchestra and strings), Pruden’s vivid response to urban society and rural life in New Zealand is revealed.
