Beethoven Piano Trios
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 7/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 272
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN8352/5
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 6 in E flat, Op. 70/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 7 in B flat, Op. 97, 'Archduke' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 9 in B flat, WoO39 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 10 in E flat, Op. 44 (Variations on an original theme) |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 1 in E flat, Op. 1/1 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 2 in G, Op. 1/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 3 in C minor, Op. 1/3 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 5 in D, Op. 70/1, 'Ghost' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 7/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: DBRD4004
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 6 in E flat, Op. 70/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 7 in B flat, Op. 97, 'Archduke' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 9 in B flat, WoO39 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 10 in E flat, Op. 44 (Variations on an original theme) |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 1 in E flat, Op. 1/1 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 2 in G, Op. 1/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 3 in C minor, Op. 1/3 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 5 in D, Op. 70/1, 'Ghost' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 7/1987
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: DBTD4004
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 6 in E flat, Op. 70/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 7 in B flat, Op. 97, 'Archduke' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 9 in B flat, WoO39 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 10 in E flat, Op. 44 (Variations on an original theme) |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 1 in E flat, Op. 1/1 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 2 in G, Op. 1/2 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 3 in C minor, Op. 1/3 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
| Piano Trios, Movement: No. 5 in D, Op. 70/1, 'Ghost' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Borodin Trio Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Author: Joan Chissell
The completest of the complete versions of Beethoven's piano trios comes from the Beaux Arts Trio, whose extravagant seven-LP boxed set even includes arrangements of the Second Symphony and the Septet allegedly made by the composer himself. By omitting those last two oddities, Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell helpfully (for our pockets) fit everything else on to a mere four LPs. The Borodins also keep to four, though only through the further omissions of the B flat Trio, Op. 11, with its optional clarinet or violin, also the little Allegretto in E flat of 1790-02 (Hess 48) not included in the complete published edition of Beethoven's works. Space-wise, however, they try to compensate by including a couple of repeats in the outer movements of the Ghost which Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell (on EMI) I think wisely omit.
So much for the contents. Now for the recording itself. Playing in Layer Marney Church, Essex, the Borodins emerge very full-bodied and close—agreeably so, at best, and in a way that matches their musical approach. But in quality the sound is not so fine-grained and mellifluous as that heard from Philips for the Beaux Arts, nor has it the three-dimensional clarity and vividness of thatconjured by the EMI engineers, who I feel present the music in just the right perspective. Now and again (not least in the lower tremolandos of the slow movement of the Ghost) I wondered if the resonance of the venue itself was contributing to a certain thickness of texture. Above a certain dynamic level there are certainly some clangy moments from the piano, though whether engineering or the playing itself is to blame remains a moot point.
As interpreters the Borodins are ripely romantic, often favouring a more leisurely tempo than their rivals, and making their points more consciously—sometimes with a few liberties en route. In the posthumously published E flat Trio (WoO39) licence is carried too far: instead of letting an innocent youthful divertimento just play itself, they doll it up with unrequested rubato and every other trick of the trade. Their rubato is again self-conscious as piano, violin and cello introduce themselves in Nos. 2, 3 and 4 of the early E flat Variations, Op. 44, just as it is in the little B flat Allegretto, written in 1812 for the ten-year-old Maximiliane Brentano. In this last piece, however, they at least avoid the Beaux Arts' excessively slow tempo. In the Kakadu Variations, mostly strongly characterful, I was slightly puzzled by their treatment of the dotted crotchets launching the final variation's G minor fugato: you'd almost think Beethoven had written his dots over those notes instead of alongside them.
Coming to the six 'official' trios of Opp. 1, 70 and 97, I particularly enjoyed the G major work from the first set. There's a richly expressive slow introduction, a beautifully spun Largo con espressione, a judiciously paced Scherzo and a finale which if not quite so cheekily dare-devil as from Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell still reveals the Borodins at their most scintillating. Incidentally, the finale of the E flat Trio (Op. 1 No. 1) is one of the few occasions where they're faster than their EMI rivals—and not surprisingly it sounds a little gabbled. Elsewhere in this work, as also in the dramatic No. 3 in C minor, they are more deliberate, and always prepared to relax tension in the interest of maximum second subject contrast. In toto, then, a slightly older, less highly-strung Beethoven than we meet in these works from either the impressionable, light-weight Beaux Arts or the more virile wholly spontaneous-sounding EMI team.
Moving on to Op. 70, separated from Op. 1 by some 15 years, I question the unspecified ritenuto the Borodins introduce before the first movement's recapitulation, and still more, their curious slowing down for the whole dolce episode that precedes the recapitulation in the finale. Otherwise it's arrestingly dramatic, with a particularly powerful first movement. For its immediate successor in E flat they favour a decidedly unhurried tempo—too slow, I thought, for all the repetitions of the Allegretto ma non troppo. Even in the first movement tension slightly sags when the introductory theme returns to launch the second subject. Nevertheless, it's a deeply committed reading of a work that repays more searching exploration than it invites on the surface. As for the Archduke, here the Borodins, like the Beaux Arts, sometimes cherish detail at the cost of the music's longer, broader flow. Always there's a stronger and more consistently sustained sense of direction from Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell. But in honouring the ma pero con moto with which Beethoven qualifies the slow movement's Andante cantabile, I do feel that those three artists don't quite get to the music's innermost heart. Here the Borodins are at their expressive best, not least in the sublime coda. But as readers may have guessed, my first choice still remains the EMI set—for its generous content, its fresh sound, and last but not the least, for the players' stylish reconciliation of the romantic and classical in this composer's make-up.'
So much for the contents. Now for the recording itself. Playing in Layer Marney Church, Essex, the Borodins emerge very full-bodied and close—agreeably so, at best, and in a way that matches their musical approach. But in quality the sound is not so fine-grained and mellifluous as that heard from Philips for the Beaux Arts, nor has it the three-dimensional clarity and vividness of thatconjured by the EMI engineers, who I feel present the music in just the right perspective. Now and again (not least in the lower tremolandos of the slow movement of the Ghost) I wondered if the resonance of the venue itself was contributing to a certain thickness of texture. Above a certain dynamic level there are certainly some clangy moments from the piano, though whether engineering or the playing itself is to blame remains a moot point.
As interpreters the Borodins are ripely romantic, often favouring a more leisurely tempo than their rivals, and making their points more consciously—sometimes with a few liberties en route. In the posthumously published E flat Trio (WoO39) licence is carried too far: instead of letting an innocent youthful divertimento just play itself, they doll it up with unrequested rubato and every other trick of the trade. Their rubato is again self-conscious as piano, violin and cello introduce themselves in Nos. 2, 3 and 4 of the early E flat Variations, Op. 44, just as it is in the little B flat Allegretto, written in 1812 for the ten-year-old Maximiliane Brentano. In this last piece, however, they at least avoid the Beaux Arts' excessively slow tempo. In the Kakadu Variations, mostly strongly characterful, I was slightly puzzled by their treatment of the dotted crotchets launching the final variation's G minor fugato: you'd almost think Beethoven had written his dots over those notes instead of alongside them.
Coming to the six 'official' trios of Opp. 1, 70 and 97, I particularly enjoyed the G major work from the first set. There's a richly expressive slow introduction, a beautifully spun Largo con espressione, a judiciously paced Scherzo and a finale which if not quite so cheekily dare-devil as from Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell still reveals the Borodins at their most scintillating. Incidentally, the finale of the E flat Trio (Op. 1 No. 1) is one of the few occasions where they're faster than their EMI rivals—and not surprisingly it sounds a little gabbled. Elsewhere in this work, as also in the dramatic No. 3 in C minor, they are more deliberate, and always prepared to relax tension in the interest of maximum second subject contrast. In toto, then, a slightly older, less highly-strung Beethoven than we meet in these works from either the impressionable, light-weight Beaux Arts or the more virile wholly spontaneous-sounding EMI team.
Moving on to Op. 70, separated from Op. 1 by some 15 years, I question the unspecified ritenuto the Borodins introduce before the first movement's recapitulation, and still more, their curious slowing down for the whole dolce episode that precedes the recapitulation in the finale. Otherwise it's arrestingly dramatic, with a particularly powerful first movement. For its immediate successor in E flat they favour a decidedly unhurried tempo—too slow, I thought, for all the repetitions of the Allegretto ma non troppo. Even in the first movement tension slightly sags when the introductory theme returns to launch the second subject. Nevertheless, it's a deeply committed reading of a work that repays more searching exploration than it invites on the surface. As for the Archduke, here the Borodins, like the Beaux Arts, sometimes cherish detail at the cost of the music's longer, broader flow. Always there's a stronger and more consistently sustained sense of direction from Ashkenazy, Perlman and Harrell. But in honouring the ma pero con moto with which Beethoven qualifies the slow movement's Andante cantabile, I do feel that those three artists don't quite get to the music's innermost heart. Here the Borodins are at their expressive best, not least in the sublime coda. But as readers may have guessed, my first choice still remains the EMI set—for its generous content, its fresh sound, and last but not the least, for the players' stylish reconciliation of the romantic and classical in this composer's make-up.'
Beethoven Piano Trios
Beethoven Piano Trios
Beethoven Piano Trios
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