COMPOSERS: Beethoven
LABELS: Naxos
ALBUM TITLE: Beethoven - Piano Trios
WORKS: Piano Trio No. 5 in D, Op. 70/1
PERFORMER: Xyrion Trio
CATALOGUE NO: 8.557723
The more famous of the Op. 70
trios is the first, the D major with
the ‘flickering’ tremolos of its
slow movement which earned it
the nickname of the Ghost; but
Beethoven himself seems to have
preferred its miraculously beautiful
companion-piece in E flat major.
Certainly, the two could hardly be
more different, or more original. In
the Ghost two exceptionally quick
outer movements enclose a sombre
Largo in the minor; while the E flat
Trio has four movements, not one of
them slow.
I hadn’t come across the Xyrion
Trio before (violinist Ida Bieler,
cellist Maria Kliegel and pianist
Nina Tichman), but this recording
makes me keen to hear the group
again. Perhaps the early Op. 44
Variations – in all likelihood
Beethoven’s first stab at a finale for
his Trio Op. 1 No. 1 – could have
done with a lighter approach; but
the performances of the Op. 70
works are thoroughly musical and
full of imaginative touches. In the
finales, in particular, the players
bring out all the music’s wit and
energy. Only the Haydnesque
second movement of the E flat work
disappoints, with a performance
that’s again on the heavy side. More
graceful and elegant in this piece is
the Kalichstein/Laredo/Robinson
Trio; and the same players’ very slow
account of the Ghost Trio’s Largo
has a shade more mystery than the
Xyrion Trio manages to convey.
But this new disc is certainly a
bargain, and well worth exploring.
Misha Donat