What ensemble could be more predestined for Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano trios than the Vienna Piano Trio? Following its brilliant beginning with the Trios op. 70, this top ensemble from Vienna now presents the magnificent and mighty “Archduke Trio” op. 97 in surprisingly close album association with the standout Trio in C minor from op. 1, a work with trailblazing qualities that immediately caught Joseph Haydn’s attention.

And with a beginning that must have immediately irritated listeners of those times: is that still the introduction or already the theme? Beethoven could have cared less about the convention; the master of motivic elaboration also avails himself of what appears to be material of no great importance and in this way lends each and every note a significance that perhaps will never be deciphered in full. The fact that the trio in Beethoven’s “destiny key” of C minor then also ends in very tender pianissimo, not with a rousing and triumphant stretta, makes this work of his youth really something out of the ordinary.

Beethoven dedicated the Trio op. 97 to his patron and protector Archduke Rudolph of Austria, who was an outstanding pianist in his own right and probably quite often played this large-format work in a private setting. The Archduke was very demanding, and the structure is correspondingly complex – such as, for example, the very unique form of the scherzo, in which the contrasting trio is interwoven with the main part of the scherzo with fine art. The variations in the third movement undergo increasingly intricate development, until in the coda a new motif leads into the very free concluding rondo. The Vienna Piano Trio brings out all these special qualities and does so in inimitable style. From the very start the unison beginning unfolds a suggestive effect. In this three-dimensional format the balanced sound picture develops its full magnificence. His Imperial Majesty certainly would have been impressed!

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REVIEW:

There's a natural ease to their playing that lends everything they touch a high level of authenticity. And we're not talking about getting all the notes right here, but rather the pneuma behind these notes. They perfectly project Beethoven's youthful 'classical' enthusiasm and audacity in the Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3, as well as his 'romantic' hunger in the slow movement of the Piano Trio Op. 97, a work that holds a certain status within his output.

– Classicsl Music Sentinel (Jean-Yves Duperron)

Classical Music

A gaping hole in the flute repertoire opened during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was not until the genial Theobald Boehm carried through his technical improvements on the transverse flute, formerly imperfect but now endowed with radiant sound, that this instrument once again was able to interest composers. The FlautoPiano Duo with Helen Dabringhaus and Fil Liotis surprises us with a program brimming with wit and virtuoso lightness and featuring none other than Ludwig van Beethoven. Here Beethoven’s Serenade is of course a must. The master himself supervised the arrangement for flute-piano duo of one of his few works assigning a challenging part to the flute; by then a highly sought-after composer, he evidently had no time to perform this task on his own. Beethoven’s authorship of a Sonata, possibly from his Bonn period, is steeped in legend; this uncommonly witty and nimble work offers us a very different picture of this composer. Theobald Boehm, who as a virtuoso constantly sought new repertoire for his steadily developing instruments, also arranged demanding works with great skill. His version of the Adagio from Beethoven’s famous Piano Concerto No. 1 sheds magnificent light on it from the perspective of High Romanticism and assigns the solo piano’s very substantial tasks to the now highly versatile flute. The equally versatile Helen Dabringhaus succeeds in rendering all of the above with great skill. She masters the virtuosic parts with sparkling lightness but also is able to retreat into tonal beauty – for example, as the discreet accompanist of her piano partner Fil Liotis. The program also includes Beethoven’s Horn Sonata in a contemporary arrangement and the playfully virtuosic Duo for two flutes from 1792 by the twenty-two-year-old composer (here with Vukan Milin) – which makes this lovingly produced Super Audio CD a very special windfall for the Beethoven Year.

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6

Classical Music

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op. 106, the “Hammerklavier Sonata,” is regarded as the most complex and demanding piece among the complex and demanding works from his late period. It was not until Franz Liszt, decades after Beethoven’s death, that a pianist was able to master this sonata’s madcap technical challenges. The version for string quartet prepared by David Plylar, a curator at the Library of Congress, was initially intended as a guide through the structural thicket of this gigantic opus. In this rendering by the Leipzig String Quartet, however, it also turns out to be an extremely revealing expansion of our musical horizons. The extended polyphonic passages quite naturally profit from the new opportunities offered by ensemble playing: the canon at the beginning of the development section in the first movement or the mighty fugue in the finale. Beethoven calls for the use of all eighty-eight piano keys, which at the time was a sensational demand. The extreme registers are also represented in the quartet version. Only a top ensemble like the Leipzig String Quartet has the magic and mastery it takes to bring its gigantic leaps, flageolet chords, and intricate harmonic relations to the concert stage. Two transcriptions by Beethoven’s contemporary enrich the program. Along with the Gewandhaus violist Peter Michael Borck, the quartet members present Beethoven’s third attempt to write an overture for his opera Leonore. At the very latest when Borck reaches for the famous offstage trumpet, the last skeptic will become a firm believer in the quintet’s symphonic qualities. The considerably trimmer final version of the Fidelio overture impressively rounds off this extraordinary project.

Classical Music

The ‘main mission’ of the TrioVanBeethoven is the cultivation of the classical trio literature coupled with composition commissions for world premieres or crossover projects. Nevertheless, with their debut recording the Trio devote themselves to the name giver of their ensemble with an arch from Beethoven’s first listed work, the Piano Trio in E flat major op. 1/1, the even earlier Trio in E flat major WoO 38, up to one of the best-known works of the genre, the Piano Trio in D major op. 70/1, which was later given the sobriquet ‘Ghost Trio’ because of the sometimes mystic mood in the slow movement.

MISSA SOLEMNIS

FIDELIO

SYMPHONY NO. 9

SYMPHONY NO. 7 & 8

Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter is still regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. He was known for the depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire. His career was truly launched with he won the Stalin Prize in 1949, leading to extensive concert tours across Russia, Eastern Europe, and China. For this release, which was recorded in Leipzip in 1963, he beautifully performs Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas, Op. 109, 110, and 111, as well as several of his other sonatas, including the “Appassionata” and “Der Sturm.”

Beethoven: Fidelio (Recorded 1961)

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Piano Concerto No. 3, 8 Bagatelles