Beethoven: Complete Piano Trios, Vol.II

Advantages: One of Beethoven's finest symphonies.
Disadvantages: None from me, but some will say "classical music is boring".

...THE END OF AN ERA 1812 can be seen as the markerpoint where Beethoven's middle-period came to an end and his late-period was ushered in. Beethoven's middle-period saw the composer at his most creative high with one masterpiece following the other in rapid succession. The beginning of this period can roughly be timed as starting in 1803 with the appearance of the Third Symphony "Eroica" and the "Kreutzer" sonata. These two works signalled Beethoven distinctly leaving the 18th century Classicism of Haydn and Mozart behind him and taking on a completely new and individual voice. This individuality became more and more apparent in the works that followed: the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas, the "Razumovski" quartets, the Violin Concerto, the three last cello sonatas, the "Archduke" piano trio, Fidelio, the Fifth and Sixth... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: A work that changed the way we look at symphonies
Disadvantages: none whatsoever

...for the beginning that opens on a more subdued note. The coda on the other hand presents further structural importance. It opens in E flat major, but soon Beethoven shifts to the remote key of D flat major, again upsetting the "safe" passage of the music even at this late stage. From here the music leaps to C major (fortissimo), accompanied by a new rhythmic figure, and followed by gigantic strides that prepare for the return of the tonic. Finally the main theme comes back in full force, culminating in two sharp and forceful E flat chords as in the beginning of the movement. II. Marcia funèbre. Adagio assai The following movement is entitled "Marcia funèbre." The mood is the complete opposite of the first, while maintaining the same epic and heroic nature of the entire work. The movement is cast in C minor, beginning in strings (pianissimo and sotto... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Two outstanding peices of chamber music for an unusual combination of instruments
Disadvantages: On the surface quite contrasting works, listener must be openminded

...The work of Ligeti has been at the forefront of Western avant-garde since his escape from the oppressive communist regime of Hungary in 1956, and he is widely appreciated as one of the most outstanding contemporary composers. The Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano because it was born out of a three-year period of illness and writer's block after the completion of Le Grand Macabre in which time he laboured over a piano concerto but completed only two short harpsichord pieces (Continuum and Hungarian Rock), yet the result in 1982 was the Trio, one of the finest and most complex pieces written so far. His career up to this point had included such sucesses as his Requiem, Atmosphères and the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001. Tiring of his own cluster-textural techniques and the avant-garde, Ligeti refreshed his compositional... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful