Word: beethovens
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...medium: the trio for piano, violin, and 'cello (played, respectively, on this occasion by Bruce Simonds. Robert Brink, and Karl Zeise). The two works: Beethoven's Trio in B-Flat Major ("Archduke"), Op. 97, and Brahms' Trio in B Major, Op. 8--though Brahms' two later contributions to the medium press them hard...
...matter how many times one has heard or played the Beethoven, the work never ceases to amaze one with its riches. Masterful in structure, significant in material, it is full of an almost endless succession of felicitous surprises--original shifts of harmony, changes in melodic contour, dynamics, and texture--which somehow always manage to retain their initial freshness...
...Brahms Trio bears certain resemblances to the Beethoven work. It opens with a soft piano solo. The working out of the Scherzo is similar. The theme of the slow movement is again presented by the solo piano in alternation with the strings; and it is another example of a soft, divine profundity unfolded through simple conjunct motion...
Brahms thought highly enough of this early trio to rework it into a new version toward the end of his life. It shows a mastery of form and material worthy of Beethoven. But it is by no means an imitative or "student" work. Brahms was a mature and consummate composer right from his Opus...
...three performers again played with great skill. Simonds' playing here was more robust than in the Beethoven, but still he was careful not to overwhelm the strings. All three took special pains to achieve subtle phrasing. And one noted here, as in the Beethoven, how nuanced the dynamics were in such matters as appoggiaturas and their resolution...