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Urban Svensson (violin), Mats Rondin (cello), Boris Berezovsky (piano)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard (conductor) 


Jaime Laredo (violin), Leslie Parnas (cello), Rudolf Serkin (piano),
Marlboro Festival Orchestra
Alexander Schneider (conductor)


Beethoven composed his Concerto for piano, violin and cello between 1803 and 1804, during what was one of the richest creative periods of his life. At the same time, he was also working on his Eroica Symphony, as well as two heroic C major scores - the Waldstein piano sonata and the first version of his opera, Fidelio. The Concerto - again in C major - has often been regarded as one of Beethoven's lesser achievements, but it's a work that's full of strokes of genius that could have come from no other composer: the mysterious opening for the cellos and basses alone (in typical Beethovenian fashion it recurs in a resplendent fortissimo at the start of the recapitulation); the first entry of the solo cello, above a dissonant, pulsating accompaniment; the manner in which the cello seizes the melodic initiative from the orchestra in mid-phrase near the start of the wonderfully serene slow movement; the sudden change in tonal direction half way through the finale's main theme; the swagger of the finale's central episode - the very apotheosis of the polonaise.

Beethoven wrote the Triple Concerto's piano part with his most ardent patron, Archduke Rudolph, in mind (he was one of the soloists at the work's premiere, in 1808), while the much more demanding cello part was written with an eye towards the virtuoso technique of Anton Kraft, who had been principal cellist in Haydn's orchestra at Esterhaza. In all three movements, in fact, it is the warmly expressive cello that takes the lead.

© Misha Donat

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