Beethoven

In 1799, after having made a name for himself with major compositions in the genres of the piano trio, piano sonata, violin sonata, and string quartet, but before finishing his First Symphony, Beethoven wrote a work for mixed strings and winds.

This piece, the Septet op. 20, would become one of his most popular compositions, with a large number of arrangements, including the one for piano trio on this disc. The Triple Concerto was written in 1805, and much like the original Septet its instrumentation is highly exceptional if not unprecedented altogether, something that Beethoven was keen to point out to his publisher.

The question, however, is whether this piece is a concerto at all, or whether it could be more fruitfully played and judged as a different kind of experimental piece in a more collaborative genre. This disc takes the latter approach, and by contextualising it in a series of piano trios, it presents this work as Beethoven’s most richly instrumented chamber music. – From the booklet notes