Olympic Music Festival Virtual Concert

Description

Beethoven’s Great Piano Trios Beethoven Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1 No. 1 Beethoven Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 “Archduke” Stella Chen, Violin; Julio Elizalde, Piano; Matthew Zalkind, Cello At the beginning of his career, Beethoven made a strategic decision to choose the piano trio over the string quartet for his first published compositions. He saw the piano trio as a perfect vehicle to show off his prowess as a composer; appeal to amateurs, who would likely purchase the musical scores; and, most important, avoid being compared with his teacher Josef Haydn, who was considered the greatest string quartet composer of the day. Throughout his life, Beethoven developed the piano trio and established it as a critical medium of chamber music for future composers. Enjoy his first and last major compositions written for piano trio.