Week of January 13, 2020
Dear Friend,
In less than two weeks, on January 24-26, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit kicks off our year-long celebration of the 250
th
Anniversary of the birth in 1770 of Ludwig van Beethoven. We start with performances of his complete piano trios, on three consecutive days, in three venues all over Southeast Michigan, by the wonderful Canadian ensemble, the Gryphon Trio.
So how many piano trios are there, actually? And how do they stack up among the other masterpieces in Beethoven’s compositional output? The answer to the second question is easy: they’re completely wonderful! But the answer to the first one depends upon what you call a piano trio. So let’s dig in and take a look at them.
|
|
I’m sure you’re already familiar with Beethoven’s three style periods, best known by the catchy titles of Early, Middle and Late. Well, as it happens, his first published work ever – his Opus 1 – is a set of three piano trios: No.1 in E-flat major, No. 2 in G major, and No. 3 in C minor. These are not immature, youthful works – he was already 25 years old when he wrote them, and they were preceded by a large number of works written but not published during Beethoven's lifetime.
Nevertheless, when he wrote these pieces Beethoven was still a student of Franz Josef Haydn, and they are perhaps best understood in the context of that relationship. You see, the young Beethoven was fiercely ambitious and competitive. The best evidence of this is completely superficial: unlike the many piano trios of Haydn (and for that matter, Mozart), Beethoven’s Opus 1 trios each has four movements, like a symphony, rather than the usual three.
Take that, Franz! Take that, Wolfgang!
A closer look reveals how attentive Beethoven was to Haydn’s example. The trio no. 2 in G major (the first actually completed) is a show of splendid virtuosity, quite intentionally longer and much more difficult to play than any of Haydn’s, and yet cut from the same harmonic cloth. Contrast that with the trio no. 3 in C minor (the last of them completed), which is a harmonically innovative piece in the same dark key that would be shared later by many of Beethoven’s most iconic creations. And then trio no. 1, the most Mozartian of the bunch, is a jewel of melodic invention. These are
major
compositions!
The Gryphon Trio will perform one of these Opus 1 trios in each of their three concerts: the 2
nd
on Friday, January 24 at the War Memorial in Grosse Pointe; the 1
st
on Saturday, January 25 at the Village Theater in Canton; and the 3
rd
on Sunday, January 26 in Oakland University’s Varner Recital Hall.
|
|
If one defines a “piano trio” as a multi-movement work written for violin, cello and piano, there are actually just three more Beethoven piano trios, and each of them is a major masterpiece. There are the two trios of Opus 70: no. 1 in D major, the “Ghost”; and its publication companion, no. 2 in E-flat major. And then there is the greatest of them all: the B-flat major trio Opus 97, the “Archduke.” Like the Opus 1 trios, the Gryphon Trio has chosen to play one of each of these trios on each of their concerts.
On Friday in Grosse Pointe, we get the “Archduke” – a work often paired with Op. 1 no. 2 because the two together are almost a complete program by themselves. It’s a lushly beautiful work – more of a later middle period than a truly late period work – dedicated to Beethoven’s devoted patron and student, the Archduke Rudolf. Longer than any of the other trios, it sits alongside the two Schubert Trios (B-flat Opus 99 and E-flat Opus 100) as the major works in this form of the early 19
th
century. Four movements, of course, and each on a large, almost symphonic scale.
On Saturday in Canton, we get the “Ghost” trio in D major, named because of the darkly evocative slow movement in the parallel minor key. Otherwise, the work is the most compact of the later complete trios, dispensing with the scherzo movement found in the others. It’s a real favorite with audiences.
On Sunday in Rochester Hills, the less familiar Op. 70 No. 2 trio makes its appearance, a work no less beautiful than the better known “Ghost” or “Archduke.” It adheres closely to the four-movement formal model of the Opus 1 trios, but with a lot more harmonic and rhythmic imagination, as one might expect from a more seasoned composer.
|
|
There are three more shorter works included in the Gryphon Trio’s piano trio cycle, one on each concert. On Friday in Grosse Pointe, the already substantial program of Opus 1 no. 2 and the “Archduke” Opus 96 will begin with the brief but lovely Allegretto in B-flat major, cataloged without an Opus number as WoO 39. (WoO literally stands for “Werke ohne Opus” or “work without opus.”) It’s short and sweet and perfect for the seating of latecomers.
On Saturday in Canton we get one of Beethoven’s most interesting compositions, the “Kakadu” Variations Op. 121a. In this, his last completed work for piano trio, Beethoven took a very early set of variations on the
silly
Wenzel Müller song, “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu,” and published it with a preceding lengthy and virtuosic introduction. The result is the bizarre juxtaposition of Beethoven’s very last piano trio composition serving as an introduction to one of his very earliest, previously unpublished works. But if one keeps that juxtaposition in mind, the Kakadu variations are a marvelous window onto the evolution of Beethoven as a composer over many decades.
Finally, on Sunday at Oakland University we are treated to the one remaining multi-movement “piano trio,” the Opus 11 in B-flat major. I did not include among the formal piano trios listed above, because in its original instrumentation it is scored for
clarinet,
cello and piano! And even though it is heard as often with the optional violin, we will be featuring instead Oakland University faculty member Dr. George Stoffan playing the original clarinet part. The third of the three movements is a set of variations on an aria with the words, translated, “Before I go to work I must have something to eat.”
Indeed!
|
|
So each of the three concerts by the Gryphon Trio includes three Beethoven works: a trio from the Opus 1 set, a major trio from Opus 70 or 97, and a shorter work from among Beethoven’s “oddities.” Hearing all three of the concerts will be a real treat, and I recommend it highly. You’ll even find a special package discount price if you visit
www.cmsdetroit.org/gryphon-trio
and click on the button that says "Subscribe Here." But if you can’t make all three, please come to at least one anyway and help us kick off what promises to be a truly spectacular Beethoven year.
|
|
Finally, a quick personal note about the Gryphon Trio. The trio's violinist, Annalee Patipatanakoon, and cellist, Roman Borys, are dear old friends of mine, former classmates at Indiana University. With a different pianist, they were the leading piano trio studying in the Meneham Pressler class; while at the same time with two different colleagues (including Annalee’s roommate) I was the pianist in Pressler's distant "number two" trio. Somewhere along the line, Annalee and Roman married each other, and joined up with pianist Jamie Parker (brother of CMSD favorite Jon Kimura Parker), and the rest is history.
|
|
|
It will be an immense pleasure to welcome these dear friends back to Detroit!
Please join us at the concerts!
|
|
Steve Wogaman, President
Chamber Music Society of Detroit
Tickets: 313-335-3300 or
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
