Trio Parnassus - Beethoven: Piano Trios, Vol. 3 (2002)

This is Vol. 3 of Trio Parnassus' series of the complete Beethoven Piano Trios. I've only heard its first volume (the Op. 1 trios), but the group's Haydnesque approach to those early works, enjoyable as it was, didn't prepare me for these dynamic performances. Here they toss overboard hints of the bewigged, scaled-down 18th-century approach and give the Op. 70 No. 1 "Ghost" Trio a muscular, powerful reading that grabs you right from the start. If anything, the Parnassus' first movement is slightly more mercurial than that of the Beethoven Trio on Camerata, though alongside that group's more expressive Largo (its mystery-laden "ghostly" tones more fully captured at a more expansive tempo), the Parnassus threesome seems a shade too objective. Neither ensemble quite captures the otherworldly quality of the classic Casals or Busch versions, though. The Trio Parnassus' Presto finale, like the Stern-Istomin-Rose version, bristles with spirit, sealing a marvelous performance played with fetching tone, near ideal piano-string balance, and aided by close-up, vibrantly realistic engineering.

The ensemble also is acutely alive to the opposing requirements of the gentler Op. 70 No. 2, with its fewer sharp edges and dramatic contrasts. The work itself is more relaxed and so are the players, though never to the point of slackness. They sing the second movement Allegretto's melodies sweetly and bring out the humor of its ending. The following movement, so Schubertian in feeling, is very affecting and the sprightly Allegro finale dances. Perhaps because of its surface charms, this E-flat major trio is often neglected in favor of its more dramatic, nicknamed brothers, the "Ghost" and the "Archduke", but in the Trio Parnassus' sympathetic performance, it's irresistible. The group has been together for two decades, so it's hardly surprising that the playing is so well balanced, with matched tone and phrasing. -- Dan Davis