Three Voices, One Conversation: When Piano and Cello Share a Voice

In my last journal, I wondered why Beethoven chose a piano trio as his Op. 1.

Perhaps one answer is that the trio gave him something a solo piano piece could not: three musical voices in conversation.

In Beethoven’s time, the piano trio was part of the Classical chamber-music tradition of Haydn and Mozart. But Beethoven gave the instruments increasingly independent roles. The piano is not simply the main character with the strings providing accompaniment. Each instrument has something to say.

I started to understand this differently during our rehearsal of Op. 1 No. 3. In the final movement, there are passages where the piano and cello have the same musical material. On the score, their lines are equally important.

In this passage, the piano and cello share the same musical line, in the same register.

Op. 1 No.3 Finale, Prestissimo Score excerpt: piano + cello parts highlighted

But when we played them together, there was a problem.

The piano was simply too loud.

The cello was playing the same idea, but I could barely hear it.

That made me stop and think.

If Beethoven wanted these musical voices to interact, then simply playing the notes correctly isn't enough. We have to make the relationship between the voices audible.

So we started experimenting. I had to listen differently, not just to my own part, but to the cello. Sometimes that meant playing much more quietly than I would naturally play. Sometimes it meant changing the colour of the sound rather than simply reducing the volume. The cellist played much louder in this part.

The interesting thing is that nothing changed on the score. The notes were the same. But the music changed.

Maybe this is one of the things Beethoven wanted to show when he chose the trio as his first statement.

Three instruments. Three voices. One conversation.