Beethoven: Piano Trios, Opus 1

Peterborough Town House

David Breitman, fortepiano, Jaap ter Linden, cello & Gabriel Richard, violin. A constellation of period-instrument stars takes on Beethoven’s first published opus, a set of trios that were designed to astound the public with their revolutionary approach and virtuoso technique: No. 1 in E-flat Major, No. 2 in G Major, No. 3 in C minor
        
David Breitman is Associate Professor of Historical Performance at Oberlin Conservatory where he teaches fortepiano and clavichord as well as courses in performance practice. He has recorded all of Beethoven’s violin sonatas with Elizabeth Wallfisch, the cello sonatas with Jaap ter Linden, the Mozart violin sonatas with Jean-François Rivest, as well as 4 CD of vocal music with the late Sanford Sylvan, whom he partnered in recital for over 30 years. In a collaboration of a different sort, he is one of seven fortepianists on the 10-CD recording of the complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle on CLAVES. With his book, Piano-Playing Revisited: What Modern Players Can Learn from Period Instrumentswhich appeared to critical acclaim in 2021, Breitman summarizes a lifetime of experience as a performer and teacher.

Gabriel Richard has been First Violin at the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, Violin Soloist at the Opéra de Lyon, and First Violin at the Paris Orchestra, as well as First Violin of the Thymos String Quartet. He tours regularly in Japan, Korea, China, America, and Europe. With the Thymos Quartet, Richard has performed four times at the Paris International String Quartet Biennial and has toured Europe, the USA, Brazil, and Japan. The Quartet’s recording of Dvořák on the AVIE label won the Editor’s Choice Award from Gramophone magazine in 2012. The Washington Post described the Thymos Quartet’s performance at the Kennedy Center as “detailed down to the last atom, and overflowing with human experience.” Gabriel Richard is Associate Research Professor in the Department of Romance Studies at Duke University, where he also teaches in the Music Department’s Chamber Music Program.

Jaap ter Linden, viola da gamba and baroque cello, is a Dutch pioneer in the world of Early Music. Currently based in the United States, he is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, where he directs ensembles and the baroque Orchestra. His extensive discography includes 2 recordings of the JS Bach suites for cello solo, the complete Mozart symphonies with the Mozart Akademie which he founded and conducted, as well as countless recordings with Musica Antiqua Cologne, the English Concert and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. During his performance career he has collaborated with such well known musicians as Andrew Manze, Ton Koopman, Richard Egarr,, Reinhard Goebel and Gustav Leonhardt to name a few. As a solo and chamber music player and conductor, Ter Linden has toured throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, China and Japan.