The Beethoven Project Trio

The Beethoven Project Trio

Beethoven: Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Hess 47 - World Premiere Recording / Piano Trio in D Major, Kinsky/Halm Anhang 3 - World Premiere Recording of Version Reviewed and Edited by Robert McConnell / Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 63

The recently launched Beethoven Project Trio makes its CD debut with the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s recently rediscovered Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Hess 47, plus two more rarely-heard Beethoven piano trios.
The ensemble: pianist George Lepauw, violinist Sang Mee Lee, and cellist Wendy Warner — all internationally known soloists — gave the world premiere performance of the “Hess 47” piano trio on March 1, 2009, in a Chicago concert that received worldwide attention.
The piece is an original reworking, by Beethoven himself, of his String Trio, Op. 3, though he finished only the first movement. In a concert review, Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein wrote that the work “casts revealing light on the master’s working methods. . . . The piano part abounds in forte and piano contrasts that lend surprise and color.”
Also on the new CD is a pair of Beethoven piano trios that received their American premieres at the same 2009 concert. The passionate and dramatic Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 63, which Beethoven based on his String Quintet, Op. 4 and Wind Octet, Op. 103 (an early work despite the late opus number). His early Piano Trio in D Major, Kinsky/Halm Anhang 3, was long mistaken as a work of Mozart’s because of its lyrical charm.
The Chicago Tribune praised the Beethoven Project Trio as a “splendid ensemble, playing with finely judged balance, evenness of sound and unanimity of style.”

Price: $25.98