The second of the Opus 70 Piano Trios is certainly less distinctive than the first — “What? No Ghost?” — but its four movements are full of delights, surprises, and breathtaking beauty.
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Piano Trio No. 6 in E♭ Major (Opus 70, No. 2), 1808
The Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio is Yael Weiss on piano, Mark Kaplan on violin, and Peter Stumpf on cello.
The first movement of the Piano Trio No. 6 begins with a slow lyrical canonic introduction that seems ready to launch into something wild and crazy, but instead relaxes into a lolling 6/8 movement of lovely music with an unexpected return of the slow introduction towards the end.
The 6th Piano Trio’s 2nd movement Allegretto is a set of double variations: the first theme in C major is gentle and polite, the second in C minor is a stomping rhythm of Hungarian influence. Two alternating variations of each follow, with a short coda that mixes them up.
#Beethoven250 Day 213
Piano Trio No. 6 in E♭ Major (Opus 70, No. 2), 1808
The Amsterdam-based Van Baerle Trio is Hannes Minnaar on piano, Maria Milstein on violin, on Gideon den Herder on cello.
The 3rd movement of the Piano Trio No. 6 is another Allegretto. Normally two central Allegrettos in succession would be weird, but these two are so different that the oddness is barely noticeable.
The second Allegretto in the 6th Piano Trio is in five-part minuet and trio form (or maybe seven-part if you count the coda) but it’s not a minuet and not a scherzo either. The first part is meltingly songful. The trio section begins with a hymn-like dialog between strings and piano but then yields to a wonderful yearning melody in the strings with tinkling piano accompaniment way up in the high registers.
The movement is very Schubert, who was only 11 when this was composed.
Czerny said the Allegro finale of the Piano Trio No. 6 was inspired by a galloping horse. It does indeed burst out of the gate with reckless abandon, but then frequently seems to get distracted with little side excursions until finally plunging headstrong into the home stretch.
#Beethoven250 Day 213
Piano Trio No. 6 in E♭ Major (Opus 70, No. 2), 1808
In a performance during the Beethoven Bicentennial year, the great piano trio of Eugene Istomin, Isaac Stern, and Leonard Rose.