All Beethoven – Dewsbury Town Hall

The latest in Kirklees Council and Opera North’s relaxed lunch-time concerts should have featured the Cellos of the Opera North Orchestra, but disappointment at its postponement to next season must surely have been dissipated by this excellent concert of works by Beethoven featuring violin, cello and piano played by Oliver Baily, Richard Jenkinson and David Cowan.

The main work was the Piano Trio, Opus 97, known as the Archduke because of its dedication to Archduke Rudolph of Austria who studied with Beethoven for many years and supported him financially. Jenkinson, introducing the work, commented on its aristocratic stateliness. This is certainly true of the sunny opening theme, initially played by piano alone. A beautiful lyrical theme for violin follows, succeeded by a passage for cello and violin pizzicato before the cello picks up the initial theme.

That stately opening complete, Beethoven’s scherzo is distinctly less aristocratic, its robust jaunty opening subject to endless variation, with the instruments grouping, interlocking and echoing each other in mazy patterns. After a supremely lyrical Andante cantabile the final Allegretto moderato picks up on the hints of humour in the Scherzo with the piano and the cello and/or violin set against each other in vigorous patterns.

Apparently at the premiere in Vienna in 1814 Beethoven, by then almost completely deaf, was reduced to playing a painful mockery of the piano part, but there is no hint of his troubles in this wonderfully accessible work: the third movement may be solemn, but it is never gloomy, and the energy and inventiveness of the whole piece are uplifting

This was helped in no small measure by the playing with Cowan, Baily and Jenkinson showing perfect understanding of each other, the trio very much fused into one unit whilst still relishing the touches of individual brilliance that Beethoven provides.

Before the Archduke Trio Baily and Jenkinson played the Duo No. 1, originally for clarinet and bassoon, arranged for violin and cello. This is an early work, too early even to have an opus number, and their stylish treatment of a charming piece provided a welcoming start to the concert. The opening Allegro comodo, elegant and lively, was classical to its core and, though the Larghetto carried odd hints of Romanticism, the final animated Rondo brought us back to the 18th century.

Reviewed on 25th March 2026