Oxford Chamber Music Festiva - Early Impressions

Two ‘opus 1’s here – first published works. Beethoven had already wowed Vienna as a pianist, so a piano trio for the domestic market made sense. But Beethoven typically broke the domestic mould in grand, symphonic style. Elgar’s salon piece was the calling-card of an impoverished provincial violin teacher whose symphonic dramas lay decades ahead. By contrast, the mature Fauré recalls the sounds of his Pyrenean childhood in one of his greatest masterpieces.