Search - Beethoven, Schubert, Castle Trio :: Trios of Beethoven & Schubert

Splendid period chamber music

Leonardo | Argentina | 11/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To those who still are suspicious about period romantic music listen to this disc. Wonderfull instruments: I love the richer sonority of ancient gut strings (vn 1670, vc 1708) and the clear fortepiano (1824). In forte passages, it does not obscure strings, like modern steinway. Very nice interpretations of two masterpieces of Beethoven and Schubert (Archduke and trio op 100). To find them in period intruments elsewere you should pay full price for 2 cds and here saving space and costs ... a bargain!!! The only problem is the fillers. Schubert composed a sonata piece (CD 2) with a lot of grace, but come on, this is not still schubert. And beethoven wrote variations op 44, for me clearly a minor piece. Kakadu variations are superbly played (like the rest of the Cds) and makes me think it is a mixture of 2 beethovens: 1, late LvB (listen to the 5 minutes !!! introduction and some fugato variations) and 2, early LvB, in the rest of the variations. They make a better work but as I have read elsewere, Kakadu is a masterpiece, although a minor one. I wish Virgin had put another, more interesting coupling (eg a Schumann or even better, Brahms piece) to make a wider "landscape" of piano trios of XIX century on period instruments."