Ludwig van Beethoven - Beethoven Klaviertrios 3 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

For the biographer Karl Holl chamber music was InchFriedrich Gernsheim's very special artistic domain.Inch The composer again and again returned to this field during the course of his life, from his beginnings in Leipzig and Paris to his later Berlin years. The violin sonatas in particular stand out in this group within his oeuvre because they, more than any other genre, document his compositional development. Things began with the fourteen-year-old's Sonata in E minor, composed for exercise purposes in Leipzig and heard here for the first time on album, and continued by way of his op. 4, his first full-fledged contribution to this genre, to the mature opp. 50, 64, and 85, with thirteen to fourteen years separating the composition of each of these works. The fourth sonata, a work dedicated to Henri Marteau, may be regarded as the high point of Gernsheim's duo oeuvre here his contrapuntal line of thought, something that he had always cultivated, extends over the entire composition.

Beethoven viewed the three piano trios as his first complete work; you can hear one of them here - in combination with the Ghost TrioInch, whose ghostly middle movement was the reason for the title. The Abegg Trio probably offers the most united performance of all the Beethoven Trios on four single CDs. It is powerful, vital playing, yet which always stays controlled, precise and melodious, that makes the performances so attractive. The ensemble sound is very homogeneous and the balance of the instruments outstanding. The commentaries in the booklet are also excellent.Inch (CD-Fuhrer Klassik)

Beethoven composed his Op. 1 piano trios under the shadow of Haydn. The younger composer's personality, though, was squarely intact. You already get those sudden dynamic surges, unsettling accentuations, and slow movements filled with sustained, lyrical tension that count among the hallmarks of Beethoven's quintessential style. The Abegg Trio's masterful performances of Beethoven's first two trios go straight to the heart of the music. Faster movements sing out with headlong brio, abetted by rock-steady tempos that benefit from tasteful inflection. Notable, too, is the ensemble's sly transition from the G major trio's introductory adagio into an effortlessly sustained Vivace, plus the rollicking give and take in the opera-buff-like finale. It's good to have these excellent-sounding 1987 recordings available again. Strongly recommended. (Classics Today)