Tag Archives: Ludwig van Beethoven

Listening to Beethoven #131 – String Trio in D major Op.9/2

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The wreath maker, by Georg Friedrich Kersting (1815)

String Trio in D major Op.9/2 (1798, Beethoven aged 27)

Dedication Count Johann Georg von Browne
Duration 22′

1. Allegretto
2. Andante quasi allegretto
3. Menuetto: Allegro
4. Rondo: Allegro

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

This second trio of Beethoven’s Op.9 set is in D major – the same key as the Piano Sonata Op.10/3, on which the composer was working at the same time. Stephen Daw, in his booklet notes for the Leopold String Trio’s recording on Hyperion, notes similarities between the two works – not least the scale of their technical challenges. ‘The solo part is in fact frighteningly difficult’, he writes of Beethoven’s violin writing. ‘We are led to contemplate whether the composer (who was certainly, in Op.10, still composing music to play himself) was aware of all the problems he was presenting to his violinist’.

Daniel Heartz spots a couple of pointers towards the Symphony no.2 of four years later – also to be in D major – and is relatively critical of the fourth movement Rondo, highlighting the ‘none-too-promising’ melody begun by the cello…too sectionalized into little segments to be of much interest’.

Thoughts

The start of this piece has an appealing warmth and is deceptively laid back – soon, Beethoven is bringing more energy to the table. The scoring for string trio is once again effortless, a form where the composer feels happy.

For the slow movement we move to the minor key, but the mood remains quite upbeat, the music still quite lively at a walking pace. The Minuet is bright and breezy, given in a quick triple time, the first violin with some technically tricky melodies to play. The final movement is quite stop start, led off quickly by the cello with a melody that becomes its relatively catchy calling card.

This trio is an attractive piece, if not quite as memorable as the first in the set, and with fewer contrasts between the movements. Beethoven’s mastery of writing for stringed instruments, however, gains an even firmer foothold.

Recordings used and Spotify links

L’Archibudelli (Vera Beths (violin), Juergen Kussmaul (viola), Anner Bylsma (cello)
The Grumiaux Trio (Arthur Grumiaux (violin), Georges Janzer (viola), Eva Czako (cello) (Philips)
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Bruno Giuranna and Mstislav Rostropovich (Deutsche Grammophon)
Leopold String Trio Isabelle Van Keulen (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Kate Gould (cello) (Hyperion)
Trio Zimmermann (Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Christian Poltéra (cello) (BIS)

The Leopold and Zimmermann trios offer very strong digital versions, while L’Archibudelli bring an attractively grainy tone to their version. Arthur Grumiaux leads his trio with a singing tone, especially in the second movement.

You can listen to the versions from L’Archibudelli, the Grumiaux Trio, the Mutter-Giuranna-Rostropovich trio and Trio Zimmermann on this playlist:

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1798 Eybler Clarinet Concerto in B flat major

Next up String Trio in C minor Op.9/3

Listening to Beethoven #130 – String Trio in G major Op.9/1

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Woman embroidering, by Georg Friedrich Kersting

String Trio in G major Op.9/1 (1798, Beethoven aged 27)

Dedication Count Johann Georg von Browne
Duration 25′

1. Adagio – Allegro con brio
2. Adagio, ma non tanto e cantabile
3. Scherzo: Allegro
4. Presto

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

Seemingly preoccupied with units of three, Beethoven returned to the string trio around the same time that he was working on the three Op.10 piano sonatas – just before writing the three sonatas for violin and piano Op.12. The trios are dedicated to Count von Browne, husband of the dedicatee for Op.10 – and there are several parallels between the two sets. D major and C minor are used for a work in each – while G major, seldom used until now, is used for this first piece.

Robert Simpson, writing in The Beethoven Companion, argues persuasively that the trios are overlooked. ‘His three Op.9 trios are rightly quoted as the locus classicus for astonishing weight and richness of sound in this medium’. He notes how Beethoven’s writing for the three instruments is so inclusive that the ‘missing’ second violin that would make up a string quartet is not evident.

Thoughts

Beethoven has already shown an impressive mastery of the string trio in the Op.3 and Op.8 works, but with the first work of Op.9 he goes up another level. The grand introduction for the first movement is imposing, almost orchestral in its conception given that there are only three instruments in play. It leads to a main theme where Beethoven is really pushing the ranges of the three instruments, the cello down low and the violin up high. It gives a strong sense of pushing boundaries – but there is a lot of fun to be had in the process.

The second movement is a beauty, a tender reflection in E major, a stream of consciousness. The third movement is bright, a quick dance that is much more scherzo than minuet, while the fourth movement rushes forward impatiently, each of the instruments bristling with energy.

Beethoven’s ambition here is clear, taking the string trio to a new level of technical prowess while expanding the form.

Recordings used and Spotify links

L’Archibudelli (Vera Beths (violin), Juergen Kussmaul (viola), Anner Bylsma (cello)
The Grumiaux Trio (Arthur Grumiaux (violin), Georges Janzer (viola), Eva Czako (cello) (Philips)
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Bruno Giuranna and Mstislav Rostropovich (Deutsche Grammophon)
Leopold String Trio Isabelle Van Keulen (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Kate Gould (cello) (Hyperion)
Trio Zimmermann (Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Christian Poltéra (cello) (BIS)

You can listen to the versions from L’Archibudelli, the Grumiaux Trio, the Mutter-Giuranna-Rostropovich trio and Trio Zimmermann on this playlist:

Heifetz and co are expansive in the slower music but enjoy tripping along in the third movement, relishing the music’s positive energy. The Grumiaux Trio are satin-smooth, Arthur’s violin taking the lead in an affectionate account. The Leopold String Trio give an elegant first movement but keep the freshness of the new discoveries as the work progresses.

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1798 Kozeluch Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major

Next up String Trio in G major Op.9/2

Listening to Beethoven #129 – Clarinet Trio in B flat major Op.11

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The Kaunitz Palace and Garden, Vienna by Bernardo Bellotto

Trio in B flat major Op.11 for clarinet, cello and piano (1797-8, Beethoven aged 27)

Dedication Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun
Duration 22′

1. Allegro con brio
2. Adagio
3. Tema con variazioni ‘Pria ch’io l’impegno’: Allegretto

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The combination of clarinet, cello and piano was a relatively rare one when Beethoven wrote his trio in 1798. It is thought to have been written for the Viennese clarinettist Joseph Bähr, but was dedicated to Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun. Richard Wigmore, writing in his booklet note for Hyperion on the piece, thinks Bähr suggested a theme for the variations Beethoven wrote in the finale – on Josef Weigl’s new comic opera L’amor marinaro which was premiered late in 1797 – and which gives the trio its sometimes-used Gassenhauer nickname.

Daniel Heartz dubs the piece ‘very entertaining’, but Lewis Lockwood is less convinced. ‘Of the lesser works, designed for popularity and little more, the most developed are the Clarinet Trio Op.11 and the Quintet for Piano and Winds Op.16. On its publication in 1798 Beethoven dedicated it to a Countess Thun, presumably the oldest one of several by that title, who a few years earlier had gone on her knees to implore him to play. For her pains she now received a light and flashy reward that moved from a glittering first movement and slow movement to the circus style of its finale, made up of variation on the hit tune Pria ch’io l’impegno from a recent comic opera by Josef Weigl. In once more forcing an inevitable comparison with Mozart, whose E flat major Clarinet Trio, with viola, had been another quiet masterpiece, Beethoven did well to make his piece attractive to audiences and performers, especially cellists, but he was fully aware that instead of attempting a really serious work that could stand up to Mozart’, he was trolling the surface for easy dividends.’

Lockwood’s relative disdain for the piece has not carried over to audiences, nor artists – for as you will read below there are many fine versions of the piece. This in spite of the critic in 1798 who declared that the work was ‘difficult’ and that Beethoven wrote ‘unnaturally’.

Thoughts

What a charming piece this is.

The first theme we hear is an unlikely one. Given that the piece is in B flat major Beethoven seems to want nothing to do with the home key initially, arriving there as though by accident. The second theme is nice, too, given out by the clarinet after a simple and quite dreamy aside in D major. The tone of clarinet, cello and piano is lovely – and while the piano often takes the lead there is plenty for the other two instruments.

The second movement is sublime, a lovely period of reflection with a lyrical theme made for cello. This is also the ideal point to enjoy the colour combination of cello and clarinet in particular which Beethoven clearly relished.

The composer has a great deal of fun with the ‘Gassenhauer’ theme, which has a wide set of variations. The perky theme is taken for a run first by the piano, then through a canon between cello and clarinet, then another upright exchange with brilliant high notes from the clarinet. The fourth variation finds minor key stillness, deep in thought, but is completely swamped by tempestuous scales from the piano, blasted out fortissimo. Variation 7 returns to the minor key, in a mock-stern funeral march, then we hear a glorious high cello and clarinet unison for the eighth. The ninth and final variation goes far and wide, allowing the piano room to roam before a bracing coda.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Sabine Meyer (clarinet), Heinrich Schiff (cello), Rudolf Buchbinder (piano) (EMI)

Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Jacqueline du Pré (cello), Daniel Barenboim (piano) (EMI)

Karl Leister (clarinet), Pierre Fournier (cello), Wilhelm Kempff (piano) (Deutsche Grammophon)

The Nash Ensemble (Virgin Classics)

Jon Manasse (clarinet), Clive Greensmith (cello), Jon Nakamatsu (piano) (Harmonia Mundi)

Paul Meyer (clarinet), Claudio Bohórquez (cello), Eric Le Sage (piano) (Alpha)

The trio led by Jon Manasse give a sparkling performance, of which you can hear half on Spotify due to time restrictions. Sabine Meyer and her trio are also superb, with Heinrich Schiff excelling in the slow movement. Karl Leister, Pierre Fournier and Wilhelm Kempff had a great rapport, as do Eric Le Sage and his trio – all of them emphasising how much pleasure this work can bring as pure chamber music to be enjoyed together.

You can listen to these versions on the playlist below:

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1798 Eybler Clarinet Concerto in B flat major

Next up String Trio in G major Op.9/1

Listening to Beethoven #128 – Piano Sonata no.7 in D major Op.10/3

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Coastal Landscape by Caspar David Friedrich (c1798)

Piano Sonata no.7 in D major Op.10/3 for piano (1798, Beethoven aged 27)

1 Presto
2 Largo e mesto
3 Menuetto: Allegro
4 Rondo: Allegro

Dedication Countess Anna Margarete von Browne
Duration 25′

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The third of the sonatas published as Op.10 in September 1798 is, for Lewis Lockwood, ‘the grandest and most powerful of the group’. The word also appears in the praise given to the piece by Beethoven’s contemporary Carl Czerny, who dubbed it ‘a grand and significant piece’.

His label is referred to by Angela Hewitt in her booklet notes for the sonata recordings on Hyperion, though she goes further to call it ‘the first masterpiece in the cycle of sonatas’.

Commentators are united in praise and an awestruck respect for the great slow movement. For Lockwood, it ‘breathes an air of desolation whose only parallel from the time is the great slow movement of the Op.18/1 quartet, a movement we know Beethoven associated with the tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet.’ Hewitt quotes Donald Tovey’s performance advice in full, which states that if you as a pianist ‘simply make sure that you are playing what is written you will go far to realize the tragic power that makes this movement a landmark in musical history.’

The second movement casts a lasting shadow over the third and fourth, though Daniel Heartz enjoys the ‘lyrical and lovely’ third, and the fourth, whose theme ‘never reaches a very firm answer in the way of a thematic-harmonic conclusion until the last moment, when the questions are finally transformed into an answer – a very Haydnesque ploy that is akin to pulling an ace from one’s sleeve to end the game’.

Thoughts

This is indeed the sonata that makes the strongest emotional impression so far – and an awful lot of that is down to the slow movement. Yet the impact of that funereal tribute is even more powerful because it follows on the heels of the first movement’s bravura, with glittering scales as both hands chase each other around the keyboard.

Because of this all energy feels spent when the second movement casts its mood of contemplation and sorrow. Time seems to stop, and though there is a little hope in the central section, where an idea seems to grow from the depths and climb slowly up the piano, a bell-like tolling still runs ominously in the background.

Consolation is sought and almost found in the Menuetto, and its bright and elegant interaction between the hands and cheery trio. The Rondo theme initially feels short changed, but Beethoven pulls out his trick of making a great deal from minimal material. The stop-start nature suggests he may have written it in a single improvisation, moving between tiny melodic cells and big, grand gestures showing off the player’s virtuosity. It is ultimately a hard-fought victory in a piece of highs and lows.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Emil Gilels (Deutsche Grammophon)
Alfred Brendel (Philips)
András Schiff (ECM)
Angela Hewitt (Hyperion)
Paul Badura-Skoda (Arcana)
Stephen Kovacevich (EMI)
Igor Levit (Sony Classical)

Again there are some special performances to treasure of this sonata. Perhaps inevitably Emil Gilels finds the deep tragedy of the slow movement, time seemingly suspended in his traversal of grief. Alfred Brendel offers the ideal mix of elegance and virtuosity, his third movement emerging with a smile after the thoughtful second. A flurry of notes on Paul Badura-Skoda’s dfgd piano threaten to take the first movement out of his reach, but this is an edge of the seat recording that proves to be very enjoyable. Its second movement is on the quick side but the left hand chords are chilling on the fortepiano. András Schiff feels too quick here in comparison to Claudio Arrau, Igor Levit and Stephen Kovacevich, all of whom find a special and profound atmosphere. Angela Hewitt is slowest of all, but balances the tension beautifully with the eventual release of the Menuetto.

You can hear clips of Hewitt’s recording at the Hyperion website

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1798 Haydn Die Schöpfung (The Creation)

Next up Clarinet Trio in B flat major Op.11

Listening to Beethoven #127 – Piano Sonata no.6 in F major Op.10/2

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Wreck In The Sea of Ice by Caspar David Friedrich (c1797)

Piano Sonata no.6 in F major Op.10/2 for piano (1798, Beethoven aged 27)

1 Allegro
2 Allegretto
3 Presto

Dedication Countess Anna Margarete von Browne
Duration 19′

Listen

Background and Critical Reception

The three piano sonatas Op.10 were published in 1798, dedicated to Countess Anna Margarete von Browne. As Daniel Heartz notes, ‘women continued to garner most of his dedications of works for keyboard, as was the case with Mozart and Haydn’.

In contrast to the first sonata of the set, in C minor, the F major piece is admired as the joker. Lewis Lockwood says, ‘There is a lot to say about the capacity of the Sonata Opus 10 no.2 in F major to make much from little, a very strong Beethovenian feature. Thus the first two notes of the opening figure suffice to generate much of the later thematic content while always relating back to this germ idea.’

Writing in The Beethoven Companion, Harold Truscott enjoys the composer’s humour in the outer movements and the reflective second, describing the piece as ‘a completely individual masterpiece’. Angela Hewitt, meanwhile, agrees with Daniel Heartz that the second movement ‘minuet’ is…’not very dance-like’, and notes the fusion of Haydn’s wit and Bach’s counterpoint in the finale, ‘but with an exuberance typical of the young Beethoven’.

Thoughts

This is a sonata to put a smile on your face. The playful start introduces the ‘peek-a-boo’ characteristics of the first movement, which is also a great example of Beethoven’s use of silence. It feels like there are several characters playing a game in the first movement. The first comes out in the cheeky and slightly timid opening phrase; the second is more assertive, with many more notes. Beethoven develops his material with freedom, taking it on a tour of several keys, before returning home.

The second movement is deeper in thought, a single stream of consciousness in the minor key that proves a very effective reflection, with some spicy chords. The third movement sounds like it is going to be a fugue, or a Bach invention, but it doesn’t end up that way – and Beethoven returns to playing games, if not quite as mischievously as before.

Recordings used and Spotify links

Emil Gilels (Deutsche Grammophon)
Alfred Brendel (Philips)
András Schiff (ECM)
Angela Hewitt (Hyperion)
Paul Badura-Skoda (Arcana)
Stephen Kovacevich (EMI)
Igor Levit (Sony Classical)

The best accounts of this sonata are (in my opinion) the ones that bring the humour to the front. Angela Hewitt has some lovely characterisation in her first movement, where the timid and detached phrases are countered by rich, flowing episodes. Paul Badura-Skoda’s fortepiano has a crisp attack, particularly in the first movement.

Perhaps the most effective account is that of András Schiff, who successfully combines the humour and Beethoven’s invention from small cells, a reading that keeps the listener hanging.

The playlist below accommodates all the versions described above except that by Angela Hewitt:

You can hear clips of Hewitt’s recording at the Hyperion website

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1798 Haydn Missa in Angustiis (Nelson Mass)

Next up Piano Sonata no.7 in D major Op.10/3