THE CASTLE TRIO

PERFORMED ON PERIOD INSTRUMENTS
BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, the "Ghost"
BEETHOVEN: Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings. Compact Disc: ND 036

The Castle Trio (Lambert Orkis, piano; Marilyn McDonald, violin; Kenneth Slowik, cello) is a period instrument piano trio which is in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. They frequently have been heard in concert at the Smithsonian's Hall of Musical Instruments performing on period instruments, often from the museum's priceless collection.

The Op. 70 trios comprise the first of four Beethoven trio discs that this ensemble has recorded. The recording sessions took place in the elegant Grand Salon of the venerable Renwick Gallery in Washington, and the instruments used were a fortepiano by Conrad Graf, Vienna, ca. 1830; a violin by Andreas Guarneri, Cremona, 1670; and a cello made by Carlo Antonio Testore, Milan, 1708.

"In this splendid Beethoven, the piano is far and away the leader. It thunders, roars, bangs, speaks in muffled tones or whispers, then glitters like a very loud xylophone-a range of sonority and volume you can scarcely believe. The player is the same Lambert Orkis who manned the huge 10-foot Chickering of 1865 in another Smithsonian recording recently reviewed here. He is fantastic! In the flesh, a mild-looking man with a simple grin (and no long hair); on the keyboard, he is a genial maniac, right from the very opening blast of the "Ghost," which will knock you out of your seat if you are unprepared. Wow! What Beethoven."

"If you want to hear what "period instruments," along with recording, can do for the loudest and most strenuous early Romantic music, here's the chance. It's an epoch-making Beethoven recording, far more powerful in sonic impact than any "modern" performance, whoever the artists."

Audio

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