If you've ever wanted to hear two of the greatest classical musicians of the 20th century in recital above the sounds of a bowling alley, Robert Zeichner has a concert recording featuring exactly that combination.
In 1971, Zeichner recorded a recital presented by the State University of New York at Stony Brook Department of Music.
The musicians were cellist Bernard Green, who was on the faculty at Stony Brook, and pianist Menahem Pressler.
Green and Pressler founded the legendary Beaux Arts Trio with violinist Daniel Guilet in the 1950s. Following Guilet's retirement in the late 1960s, violinist Isidore Cohen joined Beaux Arts (that version of the trio is pictured above).
Over more than half a century, the Beaux Arts Trio recorded all of the standard piano trio repertoire and became one of the most respected chamber music ensembles in the world.
But the three individual members of Beaux Arts Trio sometimes performed separately, which is what happened during this recital in 1971 when Pressler and Green performed an all-Beethoven recital together.
An up-and-coming recording engineer named Robert Zeichner recorded that recital. He recently digitized and remastered the recording, and he shared it with Classical IPR listeners.
Zeichner noted that listeners may hear something in these recordings that is unique to performances given in the Stony Brook student union during the 1970s: the rumble of bowling balls. The recital venue was directly above the student union's bowling alley, and in quiet moments, the sounds of rolling bowling balls are audible.
"I always thought I should have called the recording 'Bowling with Beethoven,'" Zeichner told IPR with a laugh.
Listen on demand to part of the Beethoven recital that Zeichner recorded more than 50 years ago. (The bowling alley sounds are most audible in recording of the Sonata in A major op. 69, no. 3.)
