In this live recording of the "Ghost" and "Archduke" piano trios, Austria's
Eggner Trio plays Beethoven as he ought to be played: boldly assertive, robustly muscular, tenderly intimate, and supremely self-confident. And no wonder: among the player's teachers were members of the
Alban Berg Quartet, the
Beaux Arts Trio, and the
Amadeus Quartet. The brothers
Eggner -- pianist Christoph, violinist Georg, and cellist Florian -- turn in heroically scaled performances. Together, the attack is incisive, the ensemble strong, and the feeling for rhythm all but irresistible. Both the Allegro vivace e con brio that opens the "Ghost" Trio and the same work's central Largo assai ed espressivo are frightening in their intensity. And though the "Archduke" radiates lyrical serenity in its opening Allegro moderato and central Andante cantabile, it still has sufficient sinewy strength in its Scherzo and closing Allegro moderato. Recorded live in Polling, Germany, in 2006, the sound places the violin and cello a tad too far in front of the piano, slightly but distinctly affecting the balances in tutti passages.