Beethoven - Piano Trio In D Major Op. 70/1

'It is the spirit which holds together noble and better men on this earth that is now addressed to you?, Beethoven wrote thus to the dedicatee of the Sonata op. 109, the nineteen-year-old Maximiliane Brentano in 1821. Beethoven had already composed a little piano trio (B flat major WoO 39) for her in 1812. And now she was receiving a very different kind of work - the first of the heavyweight last three piano sonatas. It remains astounding that Beethoven initially wrote the first movement as a piano work in its own right, only later deciding to expand it into a complete sonata, which today appears to have been hewn from one piece of stone. / Piano

Frantisek Jan Skroup (b. 1801 1862) is known to the public first and foremost as the composer of the Czech national anthem. He was also music director of the Estates Theater in Prague during 1837 57 where he conducted major works from the international opera repertoire and composed a series of works. Taken from his small lesser known output of chamber music the Trio In E-Flat Major Op.27 (BA 9521) and the Trio facile in F major Op.28 (BA 9522) are being published for the first time in Urtext editions.The Trio In E-Flat Major is dedicated to the pianist and composer Sigismond Goldschmidt. It is stylistically reminiscent ofBeethoven?s chamber music; its unison opening recalls for example Beethoven?s famous ?Gassenhauer Trio?. Skroup dedicated the ?Trio facile? to Jeanette Hoffmann the daughter of the Prague publisher Johann Hoffmann.As the title suggests this is an accessible piece in the Biedermeier style which was intended for music making in the home and for lessons.Both these pleasing compositions which represent unknown repertoire of Czech chamber music from the period of the national revival movement can be performed in two different scorings. The 'Trio facile? Op.28 is available in two versions by the composer with the upper part for Flute or Violin.- First Urtext editions- Two alternative versions and scorings of the works- Forewords (Eng/Ger/Cz ) and Critical Commentaries (Eng) by the editor