Beethoven started numbering his compositions with the three Opus 1 Piano Trios in 1795 (Day 41f), but aside from the Opus 11 Clarinet Trio (Day 102), often also called Piano Trio No. 4, the two Opus 70 Piano Trios of 1808 are his first compositions for the genre since then.
Uncharacteristically for Beethoven’s Piano Trios, the Piano Trio No. 5 has only three movements, but the middle movement Largo is a real killer. It gives the work an emotional heft more closely associated with four-movement works, or even with piano and violin concertos.
#Beethoven250 Day 212
Piano Trio No. 5 “Ghost” in D Major (Opus 70, No. 1), 1808
Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh leads this ensemble with Armenian-Austrian violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian and Moscow-born pianist Magda Amara in Utrecht.
The Piano Trio No. 5 begins with an initial charge of vibrant aggressiveness, and despite the frequent forays into more lyrical and tender ideas — and even gaiety and joy — that ferociousness returns throughout the first movement.
The Piano Trio No. 5 is dominated by its middle movement — a spooky Largo that gives the piece its nickname of “Ghost.” Angus Watson suggests “he had some kind of surreal drama in mind when he composed this deeply unsettling work. (“Beethoven’s Chamber Music,” p. 170)
Carl Czerny wrote that the Ghost Trio’s Largo “resembles an appearance from the underworld. One could think not inappropriately of the first appearance of the ghost in Hamlet.” Interestingly, Beethoven was sketching the witch’s scene from Macbeth around this time (Day 202).
Angus Watson notes:
It is a movement of extraordinary, brooding presence, among the slowest ever written, with spine-chilling tremolandos, bleak, whispered conversations, weird chromatic passages and outbreaks of extreme violence. Czerny certainly had a point.
The Presto finale of the Piano Trio No. 5 returns to happier times. Yet, an agitated undercurrent continues to prevent the lyrical themes from ever fully dispersing the specters that haunted the Largo.
#Beethoven250 Day 212
Piano Trio No. 5 “Ghost” in D Major (Opus 70, No. 1), 1808
The Trio Zadig, named after the Voltaire character, delivers an intense performance in Weimar.
#Beethoven250 Day 212
Piano Trio No. 5 “Ghost” in D Major (Opus 70, No. 1, 1st movement), 1808
Watching this Master Class made me yearn to redo my entire life from age 5 with the sole goal of becoming a Juilliard student.