Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 12, No. 3 (March 14, 2004)Beethoven: Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”) (March 19, 2006)In this program, we hear two Beethoven pieces for strings and piano: a tuneful early violin sonata and the famous “Ghost Trio,” written 12 years later. Beethoven wrote the sonata when he was living in Vienna, and “Viennese Classicism,” epitomized in the music of Haydn and Mozart, was all the rage. At the time, Beethoven’s early works were being met with success and enthusiasm, and he was touring Europe as a pianist. More than a decade later, as Beethoven wrote the “Ghost Trio” in 1809, he was rapidly losing his hearing, and he knew that the degeneration that would cause his eventual deafness was probably untreatable. In spite of, or perhaps even because of, this profound change in the way he heard sound, his music showed incredible innovation. In the “Ghost Trio,” so named for the spooky-sounding chromaticism in the second movement, the piano becomes an equal partner of the string instruments, and snippets of musical material are reused creatively, rather than repeated verbatim. This dramatic musical makeover shows Beethoven’s growth as a composer through the lens of his works for strings and piano.