Busch Trio - Beethoven: The Piano Trios, Vol. 1 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. 1. Allegro Moderato 2. 2. Andante Con Moto 3. 3. Rondo Vivace 4. 1. Allegro 5. 2. Adagio Un Poco Moto 6. 3. Rondo Allegro, Ma Non Troppo

For this second volume of their complete Beethoven piano trios, the Busch Trio illustrates the great variety that the composer was able to draw from an ensemble of just three instruments. The Trio in G Major, begun in 1793, is the second of three published in Vienna as Opus 1. The Trio in E Flat, WoO 38, was written in 1790-1791 in Bonn it is unusual in that it has three movements in the same key and no slow movement. The charming Allegretto in E Flat was written by a young Beethoven experimenting. The Allegretto in B Flat, WoO 39, takes us back to 1812, the era of the famous 'Archduke Trio'. Finally, the Variations in E Flat Major, Op. 44, are a series of variations on arias from a little-known opera by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. 'When practising, rehearsing, and performing Beethoven's works, it is impossible not to be overcome by the joy, courage, the love for life and humanity,' conclude the musicians of the Busch Trio.

?Ravel composed his Piano Trio M67 just before enlisting voluntarily in the First World War. Inspired by the Basque country and it's zortziko dance, the Trio ends with a sombre, almost anguished fourth movement. A mood inspired by the impending war? In his Piano Trio No.2, op.67, Shostakovich too is affected by the horrors of war and the death of a close friend. For the first time in the Russian composer's output, we hear a Jewish theme, a danse macabre echoing the terrible events of the time. Another point in common between the two works is that both include a passacaglia. For the Busch Trio, it was self-evident that these two heart-rending works should be brought together on the same album. Album Tracks 1. Piano Trio, M. 67 2. Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67