Recording
Title: Complete Music for Piano Trio 1
Performers: Florestan Trio
Year: 2001
Length: 26 minutes
Review
This particular piano trio by Beethoven is particularly worth it for a great second, slow and haunting, movement. The first and last movement are, of course, pretty great but this is Beethoven we are talking about, so the standards are different.
The piano trio is a new thing on this list, it involves a piano, of course and, in this case, a cello and a violin. It seems very evident throughout, however, that the cello is playing a pretty much secondary part to the other two instruments.
As I said above the real highlight is the second movement here, the one that gives the Trio its ghostly name, it almost reminds me of Chopin in its romantically painful sound, particularly, of course, when it comes to the piano part. I still prefer Beethoven when he is going all out in his orchestral pieces but this second movement is something special. The rest of the piece does pale in comparison however which is a pity.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
These pieces are representative of Beethoven's "Middle" stylistic period, which went from roughly 1803 to 1812, and which included many of his most famous works. Beethoven wrote the two piano trios while spending the summer of 1808 in Heiligenstadt, Vienna, where he had completed his Symphony No. 5 the previous summer. He wrote the two trios immediately after finishing his Sinfonia pastorale, Symphony No. 6. This was a period of uncertainty in Beethoven's life, in particular because he had no dependable source of income at the time.
Barenboim, Du Pre and Zuckerman play the second movement:
Part 1:
Part 2:
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