Beethoven - Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke" / Remastered (rf.rc.: Beaux Arts Trio)

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Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke"
00:00 Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke": I. Allegro moderato
12:47 Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke": II. Scherzo: Allegro
18:48 Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke": III. Andante cantabile; ma però con moto, Poco più adagio
31:20 Trio for Piano, Violin & Cello No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke": IV. Allegro moderao

Beaux Arts Trio
Piano: Menahem Pressler
Violin: Daniel Guilet
Cello: Bernard Greenhouse
Recorded in 1965
New mastering in 2023 by AB for CMRR
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Beethoven's chamber music includes some of the finest works ever written for this repertoire. The imperious, triumphal Beethoven of the symphonies disappears in favor of intimacy and poetry. The andante cantabile of Op. 97 is one of the most beautiful pre-romantic reveries to emerge from the composer's imagination. It is this third movement, in which, according to Beethoven, "happiness metamorphoses into emotion, suffering, prayer...", that elevates this trio to the rank of exceptional works. And, as luck would have it, it's a theme and variations, in which Beethoven once again revolutionizes the art of variation.

In the first variation, all the instruments seem to be "accompanying" something, but what? It's the shadow of the theme, which gradually thickens in the framework, emerging in our consciousness. The same is true of the second variation, where, in a purely linear development, we find both its melodic character and its harmonic changes. In the field of rhythmic contrasts of the third, the theme is revealed rather than guessed at, through its harmonies. In the fourth, the theme's duration and characteristic periodicity are transformed, with time appearing much more spread out, in long stretches. The fifth plays a reprise role; yet it is the one in which the apparent links with the original are almost completely abandoned. The theme is dislocated, dissolved, absorbed, emerging here and there like shreds of fog. It bursts forth at the end, once again recognized and warmly welcomed by the three instruments, then peacefully drifts away...

Here, we have to realize that a pure marvel (11 Trios) has been drawn from the composer's innermost depths and brought to the surface. And what do we find? The writing is free of all musical ornamentation deemed superfluous. Not that appoggiaturas, trills or gruppetto are absent from these works. However, for Beethoven, the role of the gruppetto is no longer to embellish or vary a song, but to become an autonomous rhythmic cell, practically what Olivier Messiaen defines as a "rhythmic character". Beethoven brought considerable development to form, expression and instrumental balance, bringing the piano trio to full maturity.

"Everything here exudes grandeur, culminating in the most compelling plenitude. Oratorical and sincere, lyrical to the highest degree, Beethoven's Trio Op. 97 is the crowning achievement of the genre, whose vast dimensions demand the complicity of the listener. From its public premiere in May 1814 - the composer's last public appearance as a pianist - this serenely triumphant landmark work aroused the enthusiasm of contemporaries and, later, of the great Romantics [...], and throughout the nineteenth century, composers as diverse as Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Brahms, Smetana and Dvořák, fascinated by the work, could never overshadow it when writing their own trios."

It is the third movement (andante cantabile), in which, according to Beethoven, "happiness metamorphoses into emotion, suffering, prayer...", that elevates this trio to the rank of exceptional works. And, as luck would have it, it's a theme and variations, in which Beethoven once again revolutionizes the art of variation.

Ludwig Van Beethoven PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)