Album
Trio Bohémo
Smetana, Schubert: Piano Trios
Digital services
Catalogue Number: SU 4344-2
Published: 23rd August 2024
Genre: Chamber Music
Format: 1 CD
This album has received following awards:
- Recording of the Week, Presto Music (2024)
- Classical Album of the Week, The Guardian (2024)
Smetana, Schubert – Piano Trios / Trio Bohémo
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) – Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15 (1855, rev. 1857). Franz Schubert (1797–1828) – Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 100 (D 929, 1827)
Trio Bohémo: Jan Vojtek – piano, Matouš Pěruška – violin, Kristina Vocetková – cello
Recorded at the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, England. Producer Andrew Keener
“I am the instrument of a higher power. With God’s help and grace, I shall one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart as a composer.” The ambitious plan in the 18-year-old composer's diary was eventually fulfilled.He was a very sought-after pianist. As a composer, he left his mark most clearly in the cycle of symphonic poems titled Má vlast (My Country) and through chamber music in his Piano Trio and the String Quartet “From My Life”; those three works reflect tragic episodes in Smetana’s life. The Trio in G minor, one of the gems of 19th-century chamber music, was written in under three months of 1855 as an outgrowth of the composer’s immense sorrow over the death of his daughter. Smetana’s emotionally gripping trio is heard on the album together with one of the most important chamber works of the romantic era, Schubert’s monumental Piano Trio in E flat major (1827). This masterpiece was likewise written by a 30-year-old composer, but it is also one of Schubert’s last completed works; at the time, Schubert had only a year of life remaining. The ensemble reaching the depths of the two composers’ music on their debut album is the youthful Trio Bohémo, who have been appearing for several years with great success at prestigious competitions and on concert stages around the world (London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein), usually with programmes combining Czech and foreign repertoire. There is yet another important name behind the recording: the late Hatto Beyerle, a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, who coached the young ensemble in both works and set them on the path towards their own individual interpretation, seeking the meaning hidden behind the musical notation.
Trio Bohémo, Smetana, Schubert. A debut with a capital “D”.
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) – Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15 (1855, rev. 1857). Franz Schubert (1797–1828) – Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 100 (D 929, 1827)
Trio Bohémo: Jan Vojtek – piano, Matouš Pěruška – violin, Kristina Vocetková – cello
Recorded at the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, England. Producer Andrew Keener
“I am the instrument of a higher power. With God’s help and grace, I shall one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart as a composer.” The ambitious plan in the 18-year-old composer's diary was eventually fulfilled.He was a very sought-after pianist. As a composer, he left his mark most clearly in the cycle of symphonic poems titled Má vlast (My Country) and through chamber music in his Piano Trio and the String Quartet “From My Life”; those three works reflect tragic episodes in Smetana’s life. The Trio in G minor, one of the gems of 19th-century chamber music, was written in under three months of 1855 as an outgrowth of the composer’s immense sorrow over the death of his daughter. Smetana’s emotionally gripping trio is heard on the album together with one of the most important chamber works of the romantic era, Schubert’s monumental Piano Trio in E flat major (1827). This masterpiece was likewise written by a 30-year-old composer, but it is also one of Schubert’s last completed works; at the time, Schubert had only a year of life remaining. The ensemble reaching the depths of the two composers’ music on their debut album is the youthful Trio Bohémo, who have been appearing for several years with great success at prestigious competitions and on concert stages around the world (London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein), usually with programmes combining Czech and foreign repertoire. There is yet another important name behind the recording: the late Hatto Beyerle, a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, who coached the young ensemble in both works and set them on the path towards their own individual interpretation, seeking the meaning hidden behind the musical notation.
Trio Bohémo, Smetana, Schubert. A debut with a capital “D”.
Reviews
“This is the Trio Bohémo’s first CD, and it’s an immensely promising debut. Schubert’s great E flat Piano Trio D929 and Smetana’s Trio in G minor Op 15 do not make the most obvious pairing: composed 28 years apart, they belong to utterly different musical worlds. But the freshness and energy of the Bohémo’s playing quickly erases any suggestion of a mismatch… overall their approach to the challenges of what are two of the greatest works in the piano-trio repertory is utterly convincing.”
The Guardian, August 2024
“There’s a palpable synergy and conviviality to their playing which leaps out of the speakers… This is an ensemble which really can go from 0–60 in a couple of seconds, as they’re required to do many times in this opening movement – every dynamic shift is managed in perfect synchronicity, with no sense of bumps in the road or moments of rocky balance.”
Presto Music, August 2024
“Enfin l'éclaircie psychologique apportée par le Presto final se déploie avec une grâce aérienne qui ménage d'admirables ponctuations mélancoliques. Les mênnes qualités (écoute réciproque, raffinement extrême des nuances, lyrisme frémissant..) qui s'inscrivent clans un espace merveilleusement défini par la prise de son se retrouvent dans l'interprétation du Trio en mi bémol majeur de Schubert.”
Classica, November 2024
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Bedřich Smetana
Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15
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| 1. | I. Moderato assai | 11:00 | |
| 2. | II. Allegro, ma non agitato | 09:14 | |
| 3. | III. Finale. Presto | 09:22 | |
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Franz Schubert
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 100, D. 929
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| 4. | I. Allegro | 16:09 | |
| 5. | II. Andante con moto | 08:51 | |
| 6. | III. Scherzo. Allegro moderato | 07:07 | |
| 7. | IV. Allegro moderato | 15:44 | |