Storioni Trio - Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Archduke Trio (2013)

Here's a recording that combines period instruments with modern; orchestral works with chamber music; and rising young musicians with cornerstones of the repertoire. The Storioni Trio's newest release couples Beethoven's Triple Concerto with his "Archduke" Trio. The Storionis are no strangers to multichannel high-resolution recording, having done very fine work already with PentaTone and Ars Produktion. This would hardly matter if they were not also exceptional musicians who bring a sense of total commitment to every project.

Here that commitment includes the use of gut strings on Wouter Vossen's violin and his brother Marc's cello, plus pianist Bart van de Roer's use of a sumptuously reconditioned Lagrasse 1815 fortepiano from the collection of Edwin Beunk. The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, which accompanies the trio in the Triple Concerto, uses period brass and hard timpani mallets in this recording.

It is definitely the Triple Concerto that bears away the prize. I have never heard a recording that so clarifies the contrasts between orchestra and solo group in this work, while firmly establishing that this is a trio with orchestral accompaniment, not an orchestral work with occasional soloists. The Storionis, conductor Jan Willem de Vriend, and Bert van der Wolf's NorthStar Recording Services deserve equal praise for their efforts. Orchestral tuttis strike forth in the thrilling, dramatic way they should, while trio passages emerge with a tenderness and unity that can only come about with many years of ensemble collaboration, i.e., with two brothers and a friend who can virtually read one another's minds at this point. By scaling this to Classic dimensions, and by creating a unified trio "voice," they avoid the interpretive trap in which performers try to make epic statements out of the relatively simple materials that Beethoven used here. Forget all those big-name, one-off discs that are undoubtedly gathering dust on your shelves. This is the real thing.

The "Archduke" performance is good, too, although I confess to being disappointed in the limitations of the fortepiano as an expressively labile voice in this work. There are effects it just can't bring to the table, especially in the slow movement, which at times takes on a manic accompanimental intensity that may sound strained (although it's what the composer wrote). Still, the trio's performance is razor-sharp and heartfelt, and it's useful to hear the work as it may have sounded in 1808. Beethoven didn't have a nine-foot Steinway either.

I received an advance copy of this recording about six weeks ago, and have been enjoying it ever since. Really a breath of fresh air for these two works.