Scott Yoo, Bion Tsang and Toby Appel discuss what they think was Beethoven’s favorite key to compose and take a reimagined approach to Beethoven’s string trio.
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TRANSCRIPT
What do you think Beethoven's favorite key is? C minor.
Actually, it might've been his favorite, but he did not use it the most.
Yeah but, I think D,G,C and mostly E-flat major. Yeah.
And for a concerto, the spring string trio, um, Eroica symphony, lots of E flat. Yeah. Out of all of the works, I think most of them are in major key.
If there are a lot of major key Beethoven pieces, when there is a minor key Beethoven piece, like this one, I think Beethoven really wanted a count.
So I guess if he's writing this in C minor, this has got to mean something, right. I mean, maybe it needs to be more dark. Well, I think of this piece as kind of baby Beethoven's fifth, right?
Instead of [Yoo plays a selection of the piece] it's [Yoo plays the same section a key lower] I think maybe we can make it a little earthier. More grit.
Yeah. Can you slate this?
[Voice over the intercom] This is take 67.
[They begin to play the C minor string trio]. Beethoven wrote the C minor string trio at 27, the height of his early period.
It was the birth of a style he would explore throughout his career.
[They continue to play].