Beethoven & Brahms: Clarinet Trios

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

...procedures, deriving new and original ideas influenced by the chamber music of old masters such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. Ligeti was influenced by the music of fellow Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, who once stated that "Every art has the right to strike its roots in the art of a previous age; it not only has the right to but it must stem from it". This makes the pairing of one of Ligeti's finest works with the Brahms Op.40 Trio a very appropriate one. Both outstanding chamber works in their own rights and certainly the two best pieces composed for this unusual combination invented by Brahms, a good recording is essential, but hard to find. There are not that many recordings in existence of these works due to the technical complexity for performers and even acclaimed recordings such as the CD by Perlman, Ashkenazy... Read review

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

...-hearted. The Trio is more romantic, written for three horns, giving a warm feel to the music. This is the first instance that Beethoven composes an epilogue for the scherzo, instead of merely reprising the main material. IV. Finale: Allegro molto The Finale is the final innovation of the Eroica. Instead of a simple conclusion in the normal mould of a Classical symphony, Beethoven builds it to become a kind of crowning culmination of massive proportions. The movement begins with flourishing elemental turmoil, like a storm, in A flat major. This serves as a transition to set E flat major firmly as the base tonality of the movement. The movement is built as an extended series of variations in a rather free form, utilizing variation and fugue in its structure. The theme, however, is not a new one. Beethoven decided to turn on the Finale of his ballet... Read review

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Advantages: a new take on a familiar warhorse
Disadvantages: is it worth full price?

...It's unlikely that any music lover who has a good recording of Beethoven's violin concerto on CD (say: Perlman, Grumiaux or Szigeti) would ever say to him or herself: 'boy, I wonder what that sounds like on the clarinet'. In fact, the only people who might would be clarinetists, for they tend to feel (mistakenly, as it happens)that there just isn't enough original repertoire written for their instrument. So here, spanking new, is a Deutsche Grammophon CD offering us an original work in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and an arrangement of the Beethoven prepared by Russian pianist/conductor Mikhail Pletnev. The soloist is Michael Collins, who plays the familiar Mozart on his basset horn with all the joy and panache we expect. The Beethoven is a different cup of tea. It's difficult to listen to the famous melodies without hearing the fiddle (or... Read review

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