Beethoven: The Complete Music for Piano Trio, Vol. 4
1/26/2024, 8 Tracks, 1:01:09
Featuring
Anthony Marwood
Richard Lester
Susan Tomes
The Florestan Trio
Ludwig van Beethoven
Did you know?
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Performer Biography
In May 2000, The Florestan Trio received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for chamber music, the first time a piano trio had won this prestigious UK award.
Composer's Artistic Vision
With his Op. 1 trios, Beethoven aimed to challenge the traditional piano trio, transforming it from an intimate domestic medium into a 'symphony for three instruments'.
Composer Biography
At 21, Beethoven moved from Bonn to Vienna in 1792 with a clear plan: to study composition with Haydn and establish himself as a composer-virtuoso.
Composition History
Beethoven's Op. 1 piano trios were first presented at a private soirée hosted by Prince Lichnowsky, a gifted amateur pianist and Beethoven's house guest.
Performer Biography
The Florestan Trio's Schumann Trios disc won a Gramophone Award and was voted the best chamber music disc of the past decade by Classic CD magazine.
Critical Reception
The ultra-conservative critic of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung found Beethoven's Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 11, 'difficult' and criticized him for writing 'unnaturally'.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven's Op. 1 trios feature weighty, elaborate structures with four movements, departing from the customary two or three movements of the time.
