Adieu, Beaux Arts

The Beaux Arts Trio, which has been in existence since 1955, is currently in the midst of its retirement tour, and said goodbye to London last week with two farewell concerts at the Wigmore.  The ensemble will continue playing until late August, when it will hang up the gloves after two performances at Tanglewood, which, not coincidentally, is where the band got its start fifty-two years ago.  A lot's changed in half a century, particularly the Trio's lineup, which for the last twenty years has included only one founding member, pianist Menahem Pressler, who's now a sprightly eighty-four.  What hasn't changed is the group's talent for wonderful interpretations, a virtue they put on display at last week's concerts, in which they played Schubert's Bb and Eb Trios and two pieces by Beethoven, the Kakadu Variations and the Archduke Trio, which they capped off with the Adagio from the composer's Gassenhauer Trio, Op. 11.  Fortunately, the second concert -- the one featuring Beethoven -- was a lunchtime recital, and accordingly can be listened to for the next week on Radio 3's website.   The Trio will resume its tour Stateside in April, and will criss-cross the country in a final sprint to the finish line in the Berkshires.  If you'd like to hear them one more time, their schedule can be found here.