The Beethoven Broadwood Trio

The Beethoven Broadwood Trio is a British chamber group formed in the late 1980s by pianist and harpsichordist Michael Freyhan. Their critically acclaimed debut CD album on Kingdom Records, featuring two earliest piano trios by a relatively obscure XIX-century composer, Louis Spohr (1784—1859), won the Gramophone Magazine Critics' Choice award; Freyhan's liner notes earned a complimentary mention in the Spohr Journal's 2003 article "Spohr and the CD note" by Keith Warsop. Since then, the Beethoven Broadwood Trio has given numerous live recitals, performing a broad repertoire from Mozart and Schumann to Shostakovich. After Joy Hall's retirement circa 1996, James Halsey (2) became the group's cellist. The trio's name honors the iconic "Beethoven's Broadwood," a custom piano built by British piano makers John Broadwood & Sons and shipped as the company's gift to Ludwig van Beethoven from London in December 1817. The six-octave, two-pedal concert grand in mahogany case, inscribed "Hoc Instrumentum est Thomæ Broadwood Londini donum, propter Ingenium illustrissimi Beethoven" ("This instrument is a gift by Thomas Broadwood of London for the illustrious Beethoven"), was entirely triple-stringed, with CC-G# brass and A-c4 iron strings; the unique customization notably raised the loudness and, most importantly, vibrational response on which Beethoven increasingly relied as his deafness progressed. The maestro was utterly excited about his new gift, as evident from the glowing letter "Louis Van Beethoven" wrote in French to Broadwood in February 1818, even before he received the instrument, which Michael Freyhan and the Trio reproduced in the CD album's booklet: "My very dear Friend Broadwood, I have never felt a greater pleasure than that which was caused me by the Intimation of the arrival of this Piano, with which you are honoring me as a present. I shall look upon it as an Altar upon which I shall place the most beautiful offerings of my spirit to the divine Apollo. As soon as I receive your Excellent Instrument, I shall immediately send you the fruits of the first moments of inspiration I will spend at it, to serve as a souvenir from me to you, my very dear B; and I hope they will be worthy of your instrument. My Dear Sir and friend, accept my warmest consideration, from your friend and very humble servant." After the piano finally arrived, it got damaged after a lengthy and harsh winter journey over the Alps — fortunately, not irreparably; Ludwig's close friend and piano maker, Nannette Streicher, restored the instrument (a challenging task, as besides triple-strung design, it was the first ever "English" action piano seen in Vienna). Beethoven treasured the piano and wrote many notable works, such as Op. 106, Hammerklavier sonata, on his cherished Broadwood; he endowed the piano to Franz Liszt, who subsequently donated it to the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. The trio didn't record the Spohr album on that same instrument, which was solely a museum non-functional exhibit at the time; Freyhan, instead, performed on a similar, partially triple-strung 1823 Broadwood model. Three years later, the original Beethoven's 1817 piano was fully restored. Melvyn Tan took it on the European tour in 1991, followed by CD on EMI Classics. The Beethoven Broadwood Trio Michael Freyhan — piano James Halsey — cello Frances Mason — violin