Having devoted their first volume to the three string trios of Op. 9 ( DKPCD9042, 9/87) the Cummings Trio now give us Beethoven's first two essays in this medium. ''Do not underrate Op. 3—it is a masterpiece'' says the programme-note writer Robert Simpson, of the E flat work (thought to date from about 1792 when Beethoven was still in his early twenties) and few people would dispute that claim. Though Mozart's masterly Divertimento in E flat of 1792 is often cited as the inspirational source, to me Beethoven's Op. 3, in its delight in surprise, more often suggests Haydn. Even so, it still proclaims the child as father of the man in every other bar. Certainly the Cummings Trios's own trenchancy in the opening Allegro con brio leaves you in no doubt about this movement's prophetically high voltage. All six movements are piquantly characterized and contrasted, with a wide dynamic range and much relish of the (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) unexpected. Yet there is no mere playing for effect. The group make it very plain why Beethoven chose to call so intricately argued a work a string trio rather than a divertimento, cassation, or the like.
Though written some five years later, the Serenade in D shows Beethoven more anxious to entertain than to edify—and I for one was delighted to make his acquaintance (I'm ashamed to admit for the very first time) in this unfamiliar, earlier eighteenth-century orientated role. Because the cello is given such chances to shine, Simpson has suggested that the work might even have been written for some special circumstance. It's certainly not hard to understand why the engaging Polacca on its own became an overnight best-seller in various different arrangements. With their buoyant rhythm, imaginative shading and attentive give and take, the players again won me over. There's just a suspicion of wiryness in the sound in the upper reaches. But a very welcome addition to the CD catalogue all the same.'