Itzhak Perlman: Beethoven - Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano in C Major, Op. 56 "Triple"

From the Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, 2010
Giora Schmidt - violin
Zuill Bailey - cello
Navah Perlman - piano
Itzhak Perlman - сonductor
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven - Concerto in C Major for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra, Op. 56
0:54 I. Allegro
19:01 II. Largo
24:13 III. Rondo alla polacca

Beethoven's Triple Concerto, unlike his concerto for violin or his five concerts for piano, was poorly received by critics at the time. This is probably what led to the piece being only seldom heard in concert-halls today. The musicologist Harry Goldschmidt recognised in the Triple Concerto, which was written between 1803 abd 1804, 'a piano trio in the form of a concerto'. Beethoven, however, did not confer the lead role on the pian, which most composer of the time did, but on the violoncello, which is first to play the theme. The partnership role of the cello with the violin is also noticeable throughout the entire development. From the very beginning of the first movement, the hierarchy as determined by Beethoven is recognisable. After the orchestra performs the sweeping lead theme, it is taken up by the cello, the by the violin, and finally by the piano. In the melancholic secondary subject, this order is maintained by the composer. The movement ends finally with a glorious coda.

In the second movement, the cello also first presents the wonderfully delicate theme, which, after a brief prelude by the orchestra, and is ultimately with melodic, harmonic, and rhythmical adaptation performed by the solo instruments. For the most part, as already in the first movement, the orchestra keeps itself during the solo passages discreetly in the background. Without a pause the sweeping Rondo alla Polacca follows, and the cello begins the theme again. This rondo displays a particularly characteristic form. It keeps returning, each time a little altered. A rousing forwards pull wraps up the "Triple Concerto".

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