Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Daniel Barenboim :: Beethoven: Piano Trios; Violin & Cello Sonatas [Box Set]

Beethoven: Piano Trios; Violin & Cello Sonatas [Box Set]
Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Daniel Barenboim
Beethoven: Piano Trios; Violin & Cello Sonatas [Box Set]
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #2
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #3
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #4
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #5
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #6
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #7
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #8
  •  Track Listings (5) - Disc #9

In the main, the youthful Beethoven chamber music collaborations between Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zuckerman, and the late Jacqueline du Pré are characterized by broad, liberally fluctuating tempos, ripeness of tone, ...  more »

     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Daniel Barenboim
Title: Beethoven: Piano Trios; Violin & Cello Sonatas [Box Set]
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: EMI Classics
Release Date: 11/6/2001
Album Type: Box set
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Instruments, Strings, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 9
SwapaCD Credits: 9
UPCs: 724357444729, 724357444750

Synopsis

Amazon.com
In the main, the youthful Beethoven chamber music collaborations between Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zuckerman, and the late Jacqueline du Pré are characterized by broad, liberally fluctuating tempos, ripeness of tone, and a tendency to place expression ahead of stylistic considerations. Zuckerman's sweet vibrato, for instance, seems misplaced in Beethoven's terse, combative syntax (the earlier trios and violin sonatas, for example). Likewise, du Pré's throbbing solo lines impose a late-Romantic patina on the music that some listeners will find more appropriate to Arensky or Glazunov. More often than not, Daniel Barenboim's piano provides the decisive voice, by way of setting tempos and effecting transitions. While the leaner, more economically expressive Abegg Trio (Tacet) and Vienna Piano Trio (Nimbus) Beethoven Trio offerings better reflect the composer's headlong brio and nervous energy, the Barenboim-Zuckerman-Du Pré team oozes sheer musicality and involvement in every bar. For this reason, one might well prefer Zuckerman and Barenboim's overwrought rapport in the Violin Sonatas to the violinist's tighter RCA remakes with Marc Neikrug at the piano. Du Pré's tragic illness prevented her and Barenboim from tackling the Cello Sonatas in the studio. Happily, their exciting, communicative live 1970 Edinburgh Festival traversals (plus the variation sets) were broadcast by the BBC and captured in excellent sound. So was a touchingly indulgent Tchaikovsky Trio preserved from one of Du Pré's final concerts, included as both a bonus and a memento. Tully Potter's excellent booklet notes give equal time to music and artists, and rightly discuss the performances in the context of their time. It's good to have these recordings gathered in a budget-priced, space-saving box. --Jed Distler
 

CD Reviews

With minor reservations, "excellent"
Steve Kessell | Western Australia | 05/15/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)

"As noted above, this 9 CD set resulted from the youthful collaboration of Barenboim, du Pre (soon to wed Barenboim) and Zukerman. Clearly Barenboim is the driving force. As the info booklet asks: "Would Beethoven have approved of what Barenboim does here? Perhaps not, although he would surely have applauded the young man's courage".Sadly, du Pre's illness (she had MS, forcing her retirement in 1973 and ultimately causing her untimely death) seriously limited the collaboration. Because her illness prevented a studio recording, the cello sonatas are from 1970 live recordings taped by the BBC. The audience noise is distracting, and I simply cannot understand why the coughs and chair scrapings could not have been edited out.Barenboim and co really do drag out the slow movements; sometimes to good effect, and sometimes too much in my view. For example, the third movement of the Archduke Trio goes for 12:07 on the Naxos recording but extends to 16:02 here (but this one is still a better rendition).To fill out the last CD, EMI includes Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio Op 50 (taped from a live performance in Tel Aviv in 1972), which is not in the same league as Beethoven's (but I guess they had to do something with the space).My main complaint is that the thick 3-language info booklet is devoted entirely to the history of the performers and includes not a single word about the music itself!That said, I am still very glad that I bought this set."