Beaux Arts Trio

The 1970s were heady years indeed for the Haydn collector, with complete recorded cycles of the symphonies, quartets and keyboard works and the first-ever recordings of many of the operas. Attracting less immediate attention than these boxed sets were the activities of the Beaux Arts Trio who, proceeding by stealth with one disc at a time, recorded Haydn's complete piano trios between 1970 and 1978.

Founded over 60 years ago by Menahem Pressler, Daniel Guilet and Bernard Greenhouse, the Beaux Arts Trio performed and recorded exclusively for Philips Classics until 1995. Through the years, the Trio has maintained its freshness and preserved its distinctive musical heritage while the membership has changed. The Beaux Arts Trio is considered by many as having set the standard for performance of piano trio literature for all future generations. These three boxes offer a more accessible way to enjoy their complete cycles of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn piano trios, previously collected together in Decca’s 60-CD Complete Philips Recordings.

As a glance at the above will show, this is not the old Beaux Arts version, for whose restoration I made a plea two years ago, but a new digital account recorded with their new cellist, Peter Wiley and in a different acoustic The Maltings, Snape. In their old version they omitted the fugue (Var. 8), a practice sanctioned by the score (the Borodin on Chandos curiously enough, cut out the variation preceding it) but this time round the players restore it. However, they do make the traditional cut in the finale (bar 9 of page 86 to bar 4 of page 102 Eulenburg score).

This is not, of course, the Beaux Arts' first recording of Ravel's Trio. A previous LP version of theirs, on Philips, is effectively replaced by this new performance, recorded in 1983. The earlier one is coupled with Arthur Grumiaux and Istvan Hajdu's accounts of Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 2 and Tzigane, which may be thought more appropriate than the Chausson Trio. Yet another recording of the latter is an unexpected bonus, and most welcome, particularly as it can be said to surpass the already excellent Harmonia Mundi one by Les Musiciens.

The Beaux Arts, late 1980s-style, is recognizably the same creature as it was at the start of the decade, or even two decades ago. The fingers of Menahem Pressler still twinkle away, the violin and cello exchange angst for mischief in volatile and ebullient alternation. The most obvious comparison for their latest release is the identical Dvorak/Mendelssohn coupling of 1980 on Pearl. Then Daniel Guilet was the violinist, and his comparatively small voice and old-style sweetness make their mark: this Dvorak is a small-scale, kid-glove performance, with the gentle acoustic recessing the violin even further and softening the high-spirited Dumka episodes.

Long recognized as the leading piano trio in a competitive field, the Beaux Arts Trio is known for precise, straightforward performances and recordings of everything in the standard Central European trio literature.

Tempered by Rimsky-Korsakov’s orientalism and Tchaikovsky’s eclectic refinement, Anton Arensky’s pristine, elevated style is nowhere more arresting than in his two splendid piano trios. These richly sonorous, predominantly elegiac compositions are magnificently played by the Beaux Arts Trio. Recorded sound is of demonstration quality, and these sensational accounts deserve the strongest conceivable recommendation.

Thoughtful, sensitive playing in slow movements, lively tempi in allegros, characteristic musicianship plus spontaneity combine to make these recordings highly recommendable throughout…

The Beaux Arts Trio was a noted piano trio, celebrated for their vivacity, emotional depth and wide-ranging repertoire. They made their debut on 13 July 1955, at the Berkshire Music Festival, Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, known today as the Tanglewood Music Center. Their final American concert was held at Tanglewood on 21 August 2008. It was webcast live and archived on NPR Music. Their final concert was in Lucerne, Switzerland on 6 September 2008.