Rainer Kussmaul, the violinist of the Stuttgart Piano Trio, plays a violin made by Andrea Guarnerius in Cremona in 1692.
Performer Biography
Monika Leonhard, the pianist of the Stuttgart Piano Trio, studied with notable teachers such as Michelangeli and Alfred Brendel.
Performer Biography
The Stuttgart Piano Trio, founded in 1968, won the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin and the International Radio Competition in Munich in 1969.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven believed music was a 'superior revelation' to wisdom and philosophy, stating, 'I am the Bacchus who harvests the wine with which humanity becomes intoxicated'.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven's 'Archduke Trio' (Op. 97) is a work of 'symphonic dimensions', notable for its unusual spaciousness and a slow first movement, rather than a typical dramatic one.
Composition History
The Allegretto in B flat major, WoO 39, was written by Beethoven in 1812 for Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Antonie Brentano, who is plausibly identified as Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved'.
Composition History
Beethoven dedicated his Piano Trios, including the 'Archduke Trio' (Op. 97), to his friend and patron Archduke Rudolph, who was also an active composer and pianist.
