Search - Beethoven, Trio Parnassus :: Piano Trios

This is definitely a Beethoven footnote, but an interesting one: two arrangements by the composer, one substituting a violin for the clarinet in his Clarinet Trio, the other reducing the Second Symphony to a Piano Trio. The violin version of the Clarinet Trio just seems like a compromise, and the piece misses the color of the clarinet. Paradoxically, trimming down the scoring of the Second Symphony results in a worthwhile alternate, in which listeners who know the Symphony well may be fascinated by the way the great composer attempts to reproduce his orchestral effects with smaller forces. Trio Parnassus plays these footnotes extremely well, and MD+G's sound is impressively realistic. --Leslie Gerber