Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Trios: Volume 2
Piano Trio No. 5 in D, Op.70/1 (Geistertrio) [28:59]
Variations on Wenzel Müller’s Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu, Op.121a
[17:32]
Piano Trio in G, Op.1/2 [33:09]
Trio Ex Aequo (Matthias Wollong (violin), Matthias Moosdorf (cello),
Olga Gollej (piano))
rec. Bundesverwaltungsgericht, Leipzig, Germany, 2014.
DDD
GENUIN GEN15344 [79:45]
This is Trio Ex Aequo’s third recording for Genuin and their
second of the Beethoven Trios, so it’s looking as if they have embarked on
a complete set.
We seem to have missed their first CD, containing the Archduke Trio
and Op.1/3 but I streamed it from
Qobuz and liked it. It’s also available for download from eclassical.com
in mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless sound: their US$ price works out about the
same as Qobuz’s in £/Euro, but neither they nor Qobuz include the booklet.
It wouldn’t be my top choice among many excellent Archdukes: I enjoyed
hearing it but the coupling competes with exactly the same from the Kempf
Trio on BIS, singled out by David Barker in his survey
of the Piano Trio repertoire and highly
praised by Paul Shoemaker.
After the Archduke, the so-called Ghost Trio is deservedly the
best-known of the series, with several fine recordings to its credit. As
with the Archduke on the earlier Genuin album, the new Ex Aequo, heard
without comparison, is very good but it’s impossible to consider it in a vacuum
when there are so many excellent competitors at all prices:
• DECCA VIRTUOSO 4785153: Beaux Arts Trio, recorded in 1964, with
the Archduke and Gassenhauser Trios, the latter in its version
with clarinet, a well-filled CD at budget price. Their later remake is available
as part of a 5-CD set Philips 4684112. Either of these would still be my
overall choice for all three works and I have used the later version as my
benchmark.
• ALTO ALC1141: Trio Zingara, with the Archduke Trio, coupling
the two best-known trios at super-budget price.
• HYPERION CDA67327: Florestan Trio, with Trio No.6, Op.70/2 and
No.9, WoO39 – or better still as part of 4-CD set of the complete Beethoven
Piano Trios, CDS44471/4
• NIMBUS ALLIANCE NI6288: Petrof Piano Trio, with Mendelssohn
and Tchaikovsky. Reviewing
this recently, I thought it not far behind the Beaux Arts Trio in Beethoven
and competitive in Tchaikovsky.
You don’t even need to do a direct comparison, one after the other, to perceive
the differences between the Beaux Arts and Ex Aequo Trios. As I wrote in
my review of the Petrof Trio, ‘the most noticeable difference between the
Petrof and Beaux Arts Trios is the lighter touch which the latter bring to
the first movement and the greater sense of spookiness which they convey in
the slow movement. It’s in the slow movement, which gave the work its nickname,
that the Beaux Arts really score, adding an element of fantasy to the Petrof’s
very accomplished but ultimately slightly too earthbound performance’. Substitute
Ex Aequo for Petrof and that’s equally true here.
That’s perhaps overstating the matter slightly: there’s nothing over-delicate
about the Beaux Arts performance, nor are the Ex Aequo players lacking in
sensitivity, but the former capture the largo assai ed espressivo direction
for the slow movement just a little better and, at 11:38, their tempo seems
to me to be closer to the mark than the 10:33 on the new recording. On their
earlier recording the Beaux Arts captured the ethereal nature of the music
at a faster speed – 10:26 – so it’s not just a matter of tempo, but the extra
relaxation on the later recording suits the music even better. I know that
some think that Beethoven didn’t really intend assai to mean ‘very’,
mistaking it for the French assez, but this movement really benefits
from taking it at face value.
Though the Florestan Trio (Hyperion) are much faster on paper at 8:27, they
nevertheless put a lot of feeling into this movement. Though only at 24/44.1
the 24-bit download of the Hyperion recording is very good and can be yours
from hyperion-records.co.uk
for an attractive price of just £7.85 (mp3 and 16-bit cost £6.99). The box
set comes in 16-bit only but at an even more attractive price from hyperion-records.co.uk
of £20. Both include the pdf booklet. The Florestan Trio performance of
the first movement is as fluent as the Beaux Arts but misses just a little
of the power of the Trio Ex Aequo. All three performances in question adopt
much the same tempo for this movement.
There’s another series of the Beethoven Piano Trios in progress, from the
Gould Piano Trio on Somm. I enjoyed their recording of theKakadu Variations,
with the clarinet versions of Op.11 and WoO38 –
review. David Dunsmore liked
their Op.1/3, Op.70/2 and WoO38 and Jonathan Woolf their Geister Trio,
Op.1/2 and shorter works (SOMMCD0114 – review).
I see that they have just completed the 4-CD set with the Archduke,
Op.1/1 and Hess 48 (SOMMCD0144). They also take the second movement of the
Geister Trio at a fast tempo – 9:40 – without sounding too hurried.
Without wishing to downplay the other two trios here, there’s less difference
between the various interpretations. The Kakadu Variations perhaps
need to sound a little more humorous than they do on the new recording, but
I’ve never thought them quite as amusing as many seem to find them.
The Op.1 trios were effectively Beethoven’s calling-card to Vienna, though
still very much in the manner of Haydn. When all three Op.1 trios were first
performed together Haydn was the guest of honour. Perhaps because he thought
the style too like his own music and also because he had only just returned
from London and felt over-tired, Haydn suggested that No.3 in particular needed
more work. End of relationship: though Beethoven dedicated Op.2 to Haydn,
he later suggested that he had learned more from Salieri than from Haydn.
Perhaps if Haydn had heard a performance as fluent as that offered on this
new Genuin recording he might have thought and said otherwise.
The recording is good, even by comparison with the Hyperion 24-bit download.
There doesn’t seem to be a 24-bit download of the Genuin recording, though
eclassical.com
offer the earlier volume (GEN12217) in mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless: the 24-bit
costs $18.81 which is somewhat pricey for a download without a booklet.
The new Genuin booklet is printed on such thick paper that it’s almost impossible
to slide it out of the jewel box without crumpling some of the pages. The
English translation of Matthias Wollong’s notes is decidedly odd in places:
‘In his later years Beethoven did not publish any more series of works’.
It turns out that the original is just as odd: ‘In spätern Jahren gab Beethoven
keine Serien mehr hinaus.’ What about the late quartets and piano sonatas?
I could have been perfectly happy with this CD if I hadn’t done the comparisons
which occasioned small reservations. They are, however, small enough not
to spoil my enjoyment and you need not take note of them if this particular
coupling appeals. Overall, however, it still seems to me that the Beaux Arts
Trio on both of their recordings get the most out of the Beethoven Trios.
Brian Wilson
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