Kosmos Chamber Music: Trio Hoppe Poltéra Brautigam

The first Beethoven work in the Beethoven Year 2027 is his Op. 1 Nr. 1: A nearly symbolic beginning for various Beethoven projects that will follow in the coming weeks and months. For the composer himself, this piano trio was a first significant success: He published his Op. 1 at his own risk – and earned well enough from it to sustain his livelihood for a year. The 'Erzherzog-Trio' was composed about twenty years later, and its premiere was Beethoven's last performance as a pianist: His hearing had by then significantly deteriorated. 'In Forte, the poor dove struck so hard that the strings rang, and in Piano, he played again so softly that entire tone groups were missed', reported the violinist Louis Spohr. This problem will certainly not arise for the Trio Hoppe Poltéra Brautigam, whom a critic once attributed a 'quasi magical empathy among themselves'.