Shostakovich: Piano Trios & Songs

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perhaps the most striking aspect of their beautifully engineered performance of the Second Trio is the surprisingly fast speeds that they adopt for the outer movements and the Passacaglia...The... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2011, 4 out of 5 stars (Recording)/5 out of 5 stars(Performance) More…

Release Date: 26th Apr 2011
Catalogue No: CDA67834
Label: Hyperion
Length: 61 minutes

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Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8

Work length11:31

$1.10

$1.50

The Florestan Trio

Shostakovich: Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, Op. 127

Work length25:12

$7.70

$10.50

Susan Gritton (soprano), Susan Tomes (piano), Anthony Marwood (violin), Richard Lester (cello)
The Florestan Trio

I. Pesnya Ofelii 'Ophelia's Song'

Track length3:08

$1.10

$1.50

II. Gamayun, ptitsa veshchaya 'Gamayun, the prophet bird'

Track length3:41

$1.10

$1.50

III. Mï bïli vmeste 'We were together'

Track length2:38

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Gorod spit 'The city sleeps'

Track length2:58

$1.10

$1.50

V. Burya 'The Storm'

Track length2:08

$1.10

$1.50

VI. Tayniye znaki 'Mysterious signs'

Track length4:57

$1.10

$1.50

VII. Muzïka

Track length5:42

$1.10

$1.50

Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Work length25:01

$4.40

$6.00

The Florestan Trio

I. Andante

Track length7:19

$1.10

$1.50

II. Allegro non troppo

Track length3:04

$1.10

$1.50

III. Largo

Track length4:53

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Allegretto

Track length9:45

$1.10

$1.50

About
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About

After sixteen years of exceptional achievement and vast critical acclaim the career paths of the members of The Florestan Trio are diverging, sadly the trio will dispand at the end of this year and this disc marks the end of their studio career.

Audiences worldwide have become accustomed to the trios quality, elegance and virtuosity. They have recorded the major works of the piano trio repertoire for Hyperion and these interpretations are frequently viewed as benchmark versions. For this final recording the trio perform an all-Shostakovich programme comprising the two piano trios and the Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, for which the trio is joined by the glorious soprano voice of Susan Gritton.

Piano Trio No 1 was written in 1923, an astonishing achievement for a seventeen-year-old student. Piano Trio No 2, one of the composer’s greatest masterpieces, was premiered some twenty years later in 1944 and in this turbulent work we are presented with a huge array of dramatic juxtapositions. The Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok were the response to a request by Mstislav Rostropovich for repertoire he and his wife could perform together. This unusual and intimate sequence of Romances conveys the sweetness and intensity of love, threatened by intimations of darkness.

In this recording The Florestan Trio display their impeccable interpretative judgment, class and musicianship.

Reviews

June 2011

perhaps the most striking aspect of their beautifully engineered performance of the Second Trio is the surprisingly fast speeds that they adopt for the outer movements and the Passacaglia...The Florestans fully capture the youthful ardour and impetuosity of the First Trio. They are in equally inspired form in the Seven Blok Romances providig mesmerising and powerfully etched accompaniments to Susan Gritton's achingly beautiful singing.

July 2011

this is a disc we're going to be talking about for a long time. The Florestans make a watertight case that the Piano Trio No. 1 was alive already to the possibilities of abrupt jump-cuts between sincere lyricism and savage distortions, while the Second Piano Trio seems to hallucinate on its past lives...an intriguing choice of repertoire is played with meticulous cre for structural balance, the music's expressive soul and its timbral suppleness.

July 2011

In the Romances, Susan Gritton is very much part of the ensemble. The command of a constantly modulated dynamic and expressive life [sic] is admirable: and I like her singing for its true, centred tone, coloured by the Russian words and impeccably controlled.

April 2011

Gritton cop[es] with the turbulent high-lying opening verses [of Gamayun] before shading her voice to deliver the chilling final lines...The Florestan judges its performances extremely well...The players maintain a raw, nervy quality - this is playing close to the edge...Highly recommended.

8th May 2011

Gritton sings [the Romances] beautifully, and the Florestans dig deep to reveal the secrets of this bleak and deeply moving music.

28th April 2011

The Florestan Trio performs with terrific presence, precision, immediacy and palpable atmosphere. They delve beneath the surface to find and project the nuances of expression that lend these works their special flavour of soul searching.

30th April 2011

Usually heard in 19th-century repertoire, the Trio close their recording career with typical panache...There is nothing Russian about Susan Gritton’s soprano but her English colouring still lets in plenty of heat. Superb playing throughout; they will be missed.

Shostakovich: Piano Trios & Songs

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