Looking to establish himself as an original voice, Beethoven poured his first significant effort into piano trios, a genre he felt his predecessors Mozart and Haydn had not taken seriously.
Of
his Op. 1 set, the Piano Trio No. 3, cast in C minor, shows evidence
of the Beethoven to come. Sudden shifts in dynamics and key create brooding
tension, as if the composer was testing the very limits of high 18th-century
style. (Haydn had criticized the score as unsuitable for contemporary Viennese audiences.)
Yet
violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Emanuel Ax explored all the
work’s classical-era elegance when they rendered the trio at Tanglewood's
Koussevitzky Shed Friday night. By turns graceful and dramatically understated,
the performance revealed early Beethoven less as a transitional figure and more
of a composer firmly rooted in the style he had absorbed in his youth.
From
the opening bars of the Allegro con brio, Kavakos, Ma, and Ax struck a
simpatico balance. Ma and Ax have been playing together for decades; their most
recent partnership once again explores Beethoven's complete cello sonatas. With relative
newcomer Kavakos to the group, the trio has traversed Brahms's complete
numbered piano trios, works that showcase the musicians in sumptuous tonal
blend.
A
similar sensitivity marked Friday's performance as the musicians conveyed the
wide emotional contrasts and Mozartian flourishes in the first movement. Ax handled his
piano passages gracefully, while Ma and Kavakos, in rich tones that never
upstaged the pianist, emphasized the sudden shifts in dynamics.
The second movement's variations showcased the trio in a more intimate setting. Ax unfolded the theme in a quick tempo, which flowered into the delicate figures of the first variation. Ma and Kavakos shaped the second variation in long, smooth lines, the ensemble, throughout, maintaining its superb balance.
On
paper, the piano figures are the focal point of the
third variation. But Ax’s gentle playing provided the backdrop for Ma and Kavakos, who
traded pizzicato statements with humor and vigor. All found the mournful
qualities of the fourth variation, where Ma's dark cello line complemented the
bright phrases that found resolution in Kavakos's violin.
The Minuet took on terpsichorean flair. The strings provided lyrical contrast in the trio, soaring over Ax's cascading runs, a few finger slips apart. All found the stormy exuberance of the finale, which ultimately found resolution in the final C-major cadence.
Kavakos,
Ma, and Ax brought a more robust Beethovenian style in the concert's
concluding curio, a transcription of Symphony No. 2 for piano trio.
Beethoven made this arrangement in 1803 for performances by amateur musicians, who may have not had the chance to hear the original symphony performed by an orchestra. The score is just as convincing in its chamber music form. Clear textures enable the harmonies in the thematic statements to resonate fully, and the ethereal passages so common to the outer movements in this symphony retain their mystery.
The slow introduction took on a searching expression in the musicians' hands, the players digging in and leaning into the phrases to capture the sense of adventure Beethoven may have felt as he expanded traditional forms. Ax and Ma charted the first theme with hushed intensity, the music growing to powerful heights when Kavakos entered the mix. The second movement was a scene of melting lyricism. Themes were passed gracefully between players, who navigated the subtle dynamic contrasts with almost symphonic depth.
The Scherzo--light and airy by turns--was a true diversion. And the musicians found
both the furious energy and warm, songlike passages of the finale.
The
encore, a piano trio reduction of the first movement of the Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony, showcased the same power and grace the musicians had explored all
evening.
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