|
 |
BEETHOVEN
Piano Trios, Op. 70
No. 1 in D Major, “The Ghost”
No. 2 in E Flat Major
Peabody Trio
Artek AR-0018-2
by Steve Koenig
There is something most wonderful in having many recorded performances of a particular work, each with a different slant. This new Peabody Trio disc becomes my favored performance of this pair, a multitextured complement to the silky smooth Isaac Stern.
The cello and violin unison opening is scary: twins? ghosts? There’re definitely shadows. Whether playing fast or slow, the Peabodys provide an inexorable momentum. Rather than discuss the two sonatas bit by bit, I’ll focus on the spooky middle largo of the Ghost trio (the intelligently written liners explain this movement was taken from sketches of a planned opera on Macbeth, probably Banquo’s ghost), which is representative of the performances as a whole. Each movement creates its own personality while still part of the whole. Listen to the descending piano solo a few minutes into the largo, Beethoven’s wink to Phillip Glass, comping even as the cello and violin join in. Only the 1986 Suk-Chuchro-Hála Trio (Supraphon) comes close to this mood and stomach-grumble piano. It makes me think of Kubelik’s Mahler 7th, eerie but not distant. The feeling here is much more visceral than any other performances I’ve heard.
By contrast, the Solomans (IMP) are frisky kittens, almost quivering with discovery in the opening movement, sometimes ice skating. sometimes just clawing things. In the largo, though, the mystery is just slow. Too many trees, not enough forest. The Castle Trio (Smithsonian), perhaps because of their “original” instruments, have an amazing tonality. The cello often sounds like a horn; with violin they make a harmonium; it is quite wonderful, and in the largo, time is often beautifully suspended, though at other times, the piano especially just spins notes. The classic Istomin-Stern-Rose (Sony) is very different from these younger groups. The piece becomes luscious, both in acoustic and in ensemble; in their hands, the Ghost is kin to Schubert’s Quintet in C.
Artek’s recording, by the justly celebrated Judith Sherman, presents the Peabody Trio close up, slightly resonant, in a small room, clearly in front of you, but not so close that you hear their breathing.
Personnel: Violaine Melançcon, violin; Natasha Brofsky, cello; Seth Knopp, piano.
Total Time: 65:44
Recording: NYC, American Academy of Arts and Letters, March 25-27, 2003. Judith Sherman, engineer.
| |
||||||
|
||||||
|
