Beethoven : Piano Trios No.5 "Ghost" & No.7 "Archduke"

Album review

Any group performing Beethoven's piano trios must contend with the example of the famous readings by the Beaux Arts Trio, made in the middle 1960s and still in the catalog. Brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, violinist and cellist respectively, with pianist Frank Braley deal with this anxiety of influence by rejecting the Beaux Arts model completely and offering listeners something new: elegant, even breezy Beethoven trios. Their tempos are quick and their balances subtle, nicely revealing many small details. Braley deserves special credit here, holding Beethoven's very active piano parts in check so that the violin and cello are never obscured, but still bringing a graceful quality to them. Some may feel that the first movement of the Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke"), is at the very least atypical Beethoven, with the warm cello melody presented more as a cradle for future developments than as an outpouring of emotion. The slow movement of the Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1 ("Ghost"), which gave the trio its name (for Czerny, not for Beethoven), is unusually delicately done here, and Erato's studio sound is another strong point. Recommended especially for those enamored of fresh Beethoven interpretations.

© TiVo

Details of the original recording : Recorded March 2019, Scène Musicale, Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de Seine, France)