Michael Stein wrote:

>I've been listening recently to two other early Beethoven works, his
>string trios, op. 9, #'s 1 and 3.  String trios are remarkably ignored,
>with the exception of Mozart's K 563.  The more I listen to these two
>Beethoven works, the more amazing they seem to me.

Opus 9, # 2, is a fine work also.  All three trios can be found on an
excellent period instrument disc from L'Archbudelli on Sony Vivarte.  If
your preference is modern instruments, Mutter and company perform those
three plus the op. 3 and 8 on a 2-cd set from DG.  L'Archbudelli also does
the op. 3 and 8 on another Sony Vivarte disc.  Most recently, the Ludwig
Trio, for Hyperion, recorded these five works on two separate Hyperion
cd's.  Although the reviews were good, I found the performances too staid
and possessing deficient youthfulness.

As for string trios in general, I agree with Michael that there's
a significant level of neglect.  Even Mozart's K 563 gets recorded
infrequently.  L'Archbudelli has recorded this work also.  Personally, you
could just have the L'Archibudelli recordings of these Beethoven and Mozart
works and do just fine.

Don Satz
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