Shortly after completing his breathtaking Fifth Symphony, Beethoven composed incidental music for Goethe' drama, Egmont.

Dedicated to his friend and pupil Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's expansive Archduke Trio is his greatest work in the genre, though increasing deafness meant it also signaled his final appearances as a performer. The cheerful Piano Trio in E flat major is an earlier work, though only discovered amongst the composer's papers after his death, and the Kakadu Variations is another good humored work based on a popular song of the day. With the American Record Guide "impressed with every recording", Volumes 1 (8.557723), 2 (8.557724), 3 (8.570255) and 4 (8.570943) are also available.

BEETHOVEN: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120

BEETHOVEN Piano Trios: No. 1 in E?; No. 2 in G; Allegretto in B? • Xyrion Tr • NAXOS 8.557724 (64:26)


Pianist Nina Tichman, violinist Ida Bieler, and cellist Maria Kliegel joined forces in 2001 to form the Xyrion Trio. This release, their second in their complete Beethoven piano trio series for Naxos, presents the first two of the three op. 1 trios, along with the much later B? Allegretto. Judging both from their individual talents and the cohesive ensemble of their partnership, Xyrion is equal to the stiff competition in this already widely recorded repertoire. Their readings have great energy and polish, a sure sense of style and, most compelling, refreshing spontaneity and unmistakable ardor.


The shapeliness and contour of the opening thematic material of the E? Trio immediately signals these musicians’ capacities for vivid dynamic contrasts and boldly articulated rhetoric, characteristics beloved by Beethoven. When Tichman spins out the second movement’s delicious cantabile, Bieler and Kliegel answer her with solicitude and sympathy, creating the impression of a most civilized, heart-felt conversation among the best of friends. Their rustic treatment of the Scherzo, cited by Czerny as “the first scherzo in very quick time, a species of music of which Beethoven was the original inventor,” with its evocations of folk bagpipes, is simply irresistible.


The aura of animated dialogue is maintained throughout the G-Major Trio. Savor for instance the grumpy interjections of the piano’s left hand in the development of the Allegro vivace. The finale of this trio, like its predecessor’s, is a fleet presto, here tossed off with a Mendelssohnian sprightliness.


Whereas Beethoven’s op. 1 was published in 1795, the B? Allegretto, dating from 1812, did not appear in print until three years after the composer’s death. It was written for Maximiliane Brentano, the 10-year-old daughter of Antonie and Franz Brentano. Maynard Solomon has plausibly suggested that the mother, Antonie, could have been the intended recipient of Beethoven’s famous letter addressed to the “Immortal Beloved.” This charming piece is perfectly suited for a child, though clearly one who must have been an extremely talented young pianist. Xyrion’s performance is appropriately straightforward and playful.


My sole reservation, and a minor one, is that the quality of the recording makes the musicians sound a little distant. Fortunately they don’t sound muffled, and the abundance of nuance with which these sparkling performances fairly burst is not sacrificead. Even if you already own one or more recordings of these trios—and the Beaux Arts (Philips 468411) immediately comes to mind as one of the best—I think you’ll find a great deal that is interesting and fresh in this Xyrion disc. If you don’t, I can’t think of a better introduction to these charming works with which the young Beethoven made his public debut. Heartily recommended.


FANFARE: Patrick Rucker

Beethoven, L. Van: Piano Trios, Vol. 1 - Piano Trios Nos. 5,

Beethoven's String Trios are masterly in form and content and, with Mozart's only string trio, the Divertimento K. 563, are among the most significant works in the entire genre. Beethoven's first, Op.

Beethoven's opera, under the title Fidelio, insisted on by the theatre to avoid confusion with the L�onore of Gaveaux or the Leonora of Pa�r, was staged with limited success in Vienna in November 1805, introduced by the second of the four different overtures eventually written for the work. There were only three performances of this first version, mounted at a time when Vienna was occupied by the French and many of the composer's supporters had taken refuge elsewhere. Beethoven was induced to shorten the opera, with a libretto now revised by Stephan von Breuning. This version was staged the following year on 29th March and 10th April, this time with the third of the Leonore overtures, the best known in concert performance. It was then withdrawn, apparently through Beethoven's dissatisfaction either with the performance or the financial results. It was not until 1814, after further revision and changes in the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, an actor who had quickly risen in 1802 to the position of poet and stage manager of the German Court Theatre, that Fidelio was again staged in Vienna. The Fidelio overture was not ready for the first performance on 23rd May but was available for the second performance, three days later. It is in this final revision, with the new overture, that the opera Fidelio is now generally known. In the opera the name Fidelio is assumed by the heroine, Leonore, who disguises herself as a boy and takes employment under the gaoler Rocco in the prison where her husband Florestan is kept by his enemy, the prison governor Don Pizarro. She is able to rescue her husband from imminent death, as trumpets announce the arrival of higher authority, to give Don Pizarro his due and allow Leonore and her husband their freedom together.

Beethoven’s letters show an extensive and prolonged correspondence with Scottish publisher and keen amateur musician George Thomson, who made it his task to collect and publish folk song settings, commissioning the likes of Pleyel, Koželuch and Haydn. The Opp. 105 and 107 collections, written for piano with optional flute or violin parts, are filled with delightfully decorative but virtuoso writing. This recording offers versions with improvisation and ornamentation by flutist, conductor and former Rampal student Patrick Gallois, based on the performance practices of the early 18th c.

Aside from his only opera Fidelio, Beethoven's general link with the theater in Vienna came about largely with incidental music or songs to be inserted into the works of other composers- insertion arias. Konig Stephan was written to celebrate the politically significant opening of a new theatre in Pest, it's triumphant mood honoring the ruling Austrian Emperor. Standard Bearer of female heroism Leonore Prohaska is commemorated with a Soldier's Chorus and a Romance with harp accompaniment. In Friedrich von Matthisson's poem Opferlied ('Sacrificial Song'), a young man prays to Zeus to bestow upon him beauty and goodness in youth and old age. Two of Beethoven's four settings are heard on this wide-ranging programme.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s only oratorio Christus am Olberge (‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’) portrays Jesus’ emotional struggles in the garden of Gethsemane before being seized by soldiers and taken for crucifixion. The work has an Italianate form with recitatives, arias and choruses, and its operatic attributes show Christ as a very human figure, a dramatic precursor to the sufferings of Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio. The tender and beautiful Elegischer Gesang is a memorial to the young wife of one of Beethoven’s close friends. Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis has specialized in large scale choral works since the choir’s inception in 1982. Virtually the entire canon of works for choir and orchestra are in the CCA’s repertoire: it has performed requiems by Verdi, Mozart, Faure and Part, as well as Bach’s Passions and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.

Beethoven's contribution to the development of German song was significant - he wrote some 90 songs - but it has inevitably been overshadowed by his mastery of orchestral and instrumental music. Unlike Mozart and Schubert's works in the genre, little is known about the composition and performance of Beethoven's songs, but he is known to have greatly respected Goethe, as his settings amply show, not least in the incidental music to Egmont, from which Freudvoll und leidvoll is taken. A versatile concert singer, Austrian soprano Elisabeth Breuer has performed with the top orchestras in Germany and Austria. Her work with conductors such as Daniel Harding, Franz Welser-M�st, Andrew Manze, Hansj�rg Albrecht and Martin Haselb�ck has taken her to the Elbphilharmonie, Musikverein in Vienna, Gewandhaus Leipzig, K�lner Philharmonie and Munich Philharmonie am Gasteig. Rainer Trost has appeared at the most prestigious opera houses and festivals in the world. He has recorded numerous albums, including Mozart's Cos� fan tutte, Leh�r's The Merry Widow, Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Mendelssohn's Saint Paul, Beethoven's Missa solemnis and Fidelio, as well as recordings of Schubert's Die sch�ne M�llerin and Schubert's Friends. Paul Armin Edelmann has sung at major opera and concert venues, and the state theatres in Darmstadt, D�sseldorf, Wiesbaden, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich and Leipzig. Edelmann has worked with renowned conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Michel Plasson, Jeffrey Tate and Manfred Honeck. His discography includes Reger Orchestral Songs and an album of works by Schubert. Bass Ricardo Bojorquez made his stage debut while there in June 2014 as Bottom in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He has subsequently sung various roles such as Osmin in Die Entf�hrung aus dem Serail, Masetto and Comendatore in Don Giovanni, Sarastro and Sprecher in Die Zauberfl�te, Cold Genius in King Arthur, Le Bailli in Werthe rand Sciarrone in Tosca.

The Places � the tour of France takes US to Burgundy to the Pays de la Loire to Franche-Comt� and elsewhere and includes glimpses of the 17th century Ch�teau de Cheverny with it's hunting museum and souvenirs of the chase and the Ch�teau d'Arlay with it's site for falconry. The Ch�teau de Bussy-Rabutain was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century by Count Roger of Bussy-Rabutain exiled from the French court after his scandalous Histoire amoureuse des Gaules a literary preoccupation reflected in his collection of pictures. The restored gardens of the Ch�teau de Villandry are seen in their formal lay-out. The Music � the music chosen to accompany the tour of the fertile and varied landscapes of France is by Beethoven and consists principally of his Pastoral Symphony a work that reflects his feelings as he recollects a visit to the countryside.

The Tuscan city of Siena has a long history and is the site of one of the earliest great Gothic churches of the region, instantly recognizable from the polychrome marble and sculptures of it's facade.

Written in 1815 during the composer' final creative period, and at a time when the piano was becoming a more sonorous instrument, Beethoven' Cello Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 exploit the cello' cantabile potential more fully than was previously possible.

BEETHOVEN: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 5 / 7 Variations,