Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Trio No.5 in D, ‘Ghost’, Op.70/1 (1808/09) [24:06]
Triple Concerto in C, Op.56 (1803/04, arranged for piano trio by Eduard Wilsing) [34:35]
Beethoven Trio Bonn
rec. 2018, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne
CAVI-MUSIC 8553108
[62:20]
The Beethoven 250 year, as well as a reason for trotting out new and old
recordings of the basic repertoire, is also throwing up some novelties – or
oddities, depending on your point of view. Naxos, for example, have been
looking into forgotten nooks and crannies with a series of recordings which
we have been following with interest, both as part of their bumper box set
and separately. I mentioned some of them in my Spring 2020/1 round-up,
which became so large and unruly, partly because of the Beethoven content,
that it had to be split into
Part A
and
Part B.
There are more in my
Beethoven 250
survey.
The Beethoven Trio Bonn [Jinsang Lee (piano), Mikhail Ovrutsky (violin),
Grigory Alumyan (cello)], whose earlier, non-Beethoven recordings have been
welcomed on MusicWeb, have been doing their share of casting light into odd
corners of their eponymous composer. This is one of a three recordings;
it’s the only one to be available in the UK on disc and as a download. Each
combines a regular piano trio with a trio arrangement of a larger work. The
other two, which I shall be reviewing separately, are:
- Piano Trio No.6 in E-flat, Op.70/2 [30:41] with Symphony No.2 (arranged
for piano trio by Beethoven) [34:31] – rec. February 2019, Deutschlandfunk
Kammermusiksaal, Cologne. DDD. AVI8553111 [65:15]
(CD, or AVI8553967, download only, with pdf booklet).
- Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in B flat, ‘Gassenhauer Trio’, Op.11
(1798) (arr. as Piano Trio No.4 by Beethoven) [21:25]; Symphony No.6 in F,
Op.68, ‘Pastoral’ (1807/08) [arr. for piano trio by Christian Gottlieb
Belcke (1796-1875)] [40:55] – rec. April 2019 Deutschlandfunk
Kammermusiksaal, Cologne. DDD. AVI MUSIC AVI8553970
[62:20] (download only, with pdf booklet)
This kind of Hausmusik, making symphonies and concertos available
for domestic performance, was common in Beethoven’s time, but it’s a moot
point how well it works on record for an audience who can easily listen to
the real thing. Linking the arrangements with the regular trios will
certainly tempt prospective purchasers. On the other hand, the availability
of all three as downloads means that if you want just the regular trios, or
just the arrangements, you can pick and choose. Or you can stream all three
albums from Naxos Music Library, where you can also find the booklets.
In fact, though the performances are good, often very good, I’m not sure
that I could recommend these as my benchmarks for the three regular trios,
when there is such a vast and distinguished field to choose from, whether
complete, such as the Perlman/Ashkenazy/Harrell set on a budget-price 4-CD
set (Warner 2564612987), the Florestan Trio (Hyperion CDS44471, 4 CDs,
budget price –
review
–
DL News 2013/12), or in classic performances such as the Beaux Arts Trio (1964) in the
‘Ghost’, ‘Gassenhauer’ and ‘Archduke’ trios on a well-filled single
low-medium-price Decca Virtuoso (4785153). Another fine single-CD recording
couples TrioVanBeethoven in the Ghost Trio with Piano Trio No.1
and the Piano Trio in E-flat, WoO38, Volume 1 of a series (Gramola 99132 –
review
–
Autumn 2017/1).
I expected that transforming the Pastoral Symphony for piano trio
would be the most formidable challenge, and there is certainly much that is
lost – and gained – in the process. The Triple Concerto is, if anything,
even trickier. In its original form it sounds like the Archduke Trio and the Emperor Concerto rolled into one.
Add the fact that there are numerous very fine recordings of the original,
not least the one from which I got to know it many moons ago, from Anda,
Schneiderhan, Fournier and Fricsay (DG Originals 4775341, with Brahms
Double Concerto, mid-price –
Spring 2018/2), and another classic recording from Oistrakh, Rostropovich, Richter and
Karajan (Warner Masters 6787052, mid-price, with Brahms Double Concerto)
and it seemed unlikely at the outset that this cut-down version would
work for me.
Very surprisingly, it did; much less seems to be missing than from the Pastoral, although, once again, the arrangement was not made by
the composer. The opening allegro is on the brisk side, but
there’s still time for the cello to take us aside and hint of something
more contemplative. The same is true of the remaining movements – both a
shade faster than the DG and, in the largo slow movement, than the
Warner. If there is very slightly less emotional power in the largo than from the latter; it’s much less marked than comparing
the timings might suggest, while the energy and delight of the finale more
than atone.
The finale was still running through my head long after the music stopped.
All in all, though I’m looking forward to hearing the new DG recording
(Barenboim, Mutter, Ma and the West-Eastern Divan, 4838242, with Symphony
No.7 –
review), this looks like being my Triple Concerto for 2020.
It’s not just the nickname that makes the ‘Ghost’ Trio almost as popular as
the ‘Archduke’. In fact, neither name tells us much about the music: the
‘Archduke’ merely perpetuates the name of one of many Beethoven sponsors
and the ‘Ghost’ is named for the slowest of slow movements, supposedly full
of Gothic gloom. This was, after all, the age of the Gothic novel. Marked largo assai ed espressivo, it seems to
foreshadow the late string quartets. It receives a sympathetic performance
from the Beethoven Trio Bonn, but the Beaux Arts Trio on the well-filled
Decca Virtuoso album listed above dare to take a minute longer; that extra
minute makes all the difference and re-confirms my allegiance to the older
recording.
TrioVanBeethoven also give the slow movement plenty of time to make its
effect; at only a few seconds faster than the Beaux Arts Trio, I found much
to enjoy, though the coupling – Op.1/1 and the uncatalogued WoO38 – is
likely to appeal mainly to those collecting all the Beethoven piano trios.
Beginners would be better advised to start with the Beaux Arts Trio
coupling of the three most popular trios, available for around £8.50, or
download in lossless sound quality for around £6.
The AVI recordings are good, but all three really need to be played at a
higher level than usual. Even if I thought the notes sometimes made too
strong a case for the trio reductions of the larger works, they are still
very worthwhile.
If you buy these three recordings for the novelties, you will also receive
assured performances of three regular works for piano trio. Only the
arrangement of the Triple Concerto, however, was fully convincing, and though I enjoyed listening to these recordings, it’s best to
look elsewhere for the three regular trios.
Brian Wilson
Previous review:
Gwyn Parry-Jones
