Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Just Curious,
Who were the performances of your Trio's by?
And its the latter half of those trio's that i get the most from.
Beethovens first period opus's rarely move me to the point of his third period opus works.
His first period works{up till he was about 30} were a period of working within established tradition..ie: The footsteps of Mozart and Haydyn and Handel too.
His Second period works{age 30 thru about opus 90 or so} are where he set out to and acomplished, finding his own path...a miracle in music with no real precedent, before or after.
His third period {opus 90 thru to demise} are for me his most profound works...the 9th, the final quartets, the final sonatas,Archduke trio, The Missa..the final cello sonatas..
Those are his works that i keep returning to.
If i had to give anyone advice on how to aproach Beethoven, it would be to investigate his works in reverse opus# order, and starting with his smaller forms and working up to the symphanies.
The slow movements of the the Hammerclavier sonata{opus106}{Solomon} and the Emperor concerto{opus73}{Rudolf Serkin/Bruno Walter} both moved me profoundly recently.
Quite often it's the Artist performance and recording ambiance that makes it for me. Generally speaking, i prefer older recorded performances too...
1950's or earlier...
Altho i have to say that anything Martha Argerich plays on piano is just stunning as more recent and still alive artists are concerned.