Beethoven: Piano Trios, Op. 1, Nos. 1 & 2

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Total playing time [60:36]

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Rautio Piano Trio

Jane Gordon (violin)
Victoria Simonsen (cello)
Jan Rautio (fortepiano)

Beethoven’s Piano Trios Op. 1 were first performed in 1793 at one of the chamber music soirées held at the home of Prince Karl Lichnowsky – the dedicatee of the whole set – and in the presence of Beethoven’s teacher, Joseph Haydn. The influence of Haydn is clearly apparent in both works, with Beethoven enhancing his teacher’s trademark rhythmic drive with 
an energetic drama that was to become one of the most distinctive characteristics
of Beethoven’s later chamber music.

The Rautio Piano Trio returns to Resonus with this first volume of the complete cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Trios, recorded on period instruments. This is the culmination of the Trio’s wider project charting the evolution of the piano trio from its emergence in the mid-eighteenth century, with the music of J.C. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Mozart and Haydn, through to Beethoven’s complex and mature realisation of the genre.

Album Booklet (PDF)

About the Artists: Rautio Piano Trio

Tracklist

Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1, No. 1
1. Allegro
2. Adagio cantabile
3. Scherzo & Trio
4. Finale

Piano Trio in G major, Op. 1, No. 2
5. Adagio – Allegro vivace
6. Largo con espressione
7. Scherzo & Trio
8. Finale

'Rautio’s instrument has an unusually warm and rounded tone, which melds and contrasts satisfyingly with Victoria Simonsen’s cello and Gordon’s violin. [...] these players bring a suitable freshness to this music. [...] And these players make the most of Beethoven’s playfulness'

- BBC Music Magazine

'Rautio’s instrument has an unusually warm and rounded tone, which melds and contrasts satisfyingly with Victoria Simonsen’s cello and Gordon’s violin. [...] these players bring a suitable freshness to this music. [...] And these players make the most of Beethoven’s playfulness'
BBC Music Magazine

'It just sounds right: crisp, purposeful, with a percussive keyboard kick in the bass, and recorded in an acoustic that suggests a sense of scale.'
Gramophone

Credits
© 2022 Resonus Limited
Ⓟ 2022 Resonus Limited
Catalogue No. RES10305
Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks
EAN: 5060262793367
Cover image: Instrument detail
Release date: 2 September 2022