Dvorak: Piano Trios 1 & 2

'Enchantment strikes straight away. There's that clean freshness and bounce, the trio's trademark. There's Dvorák himself, strongly lyrical and folksy at the start of his Op 21 Piano Trio. The players balance one another: Richard Lester's cradling cello, Anthony Marwood's emotionally generous violin, Susan Tomes's energising piano. Dvorák's Op 26 trio - subtler, more thoughtful - is a neat contrast. The usual excellent Hyperion recording' (The Times)

'The Florestan are wonderfully sympathetic interpreters, catching the music's youthful freshness and ardour with no false rhetoric. They take care to keep the textures uncluttered, phrase with a natural expressiveness, and show an idiomatic feel for the dance rhythms that pervade these trios. Both slow movements are intensely moving, with soft playing of rare intensity and subtlety, while the allegretto intermezzo in No 1 is deliciously airy. The yearning Elegy by Dvorak's son-in-law, Josef Suk, makes a welcome and touching bonus' (Daily Telegraph)

'The Florestan Trio bring exactly the right kind of interpretative vitality and insight to the table, rejoicing in the music's exuberant dance rhythms and melodic fecundity while ensuring that the various ideas flow into one another with compelling inevitability … The Florestan are now clear leaders i nthe Dvorak piano trio stakes' (International Record Review)

'The Florestan Trio chose Dvorak's better-known later trios for one of its earliest CDs, and fans have waited patiently for more. At last, we're rewarded with a wonderfully warm and subtle performance from one of the finest trios around … The Florestan Trio doesn't disappoint with its members' effortless musicianship - a sweetly judged combination of verve and lyricism' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Dvorak's first two trios are in good hands here. The Florestan Trio has always had the happy knack of both capturing character in an instant and bringing coherence to extended structures. These performances are by turns joyous, dance-like, seductive, introspective and dramatic, and all the while commendably free of self-indulgence, for beneath the surface colour there is serious musical purpose, a sense of clear direction and narrative cohesion … The recording, too, is superb - the playing is forward and clear with just enough bloom to give warmth, and the balance is immaculate' (The Strad Magazine)

'1875 is considered something of a breakthrough year for Dvorák … It is from amidst this bounteous spell of creativity that the masterful Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 21 emerged. This is a work brimming with trademarks of the composer's genius, ranging from impassioned yearning in the Adagio molto e mesto to unbridled exuberance in the finale. The Florestan Trio once again prove to be ideal exponents of these characteristics. Every nut and bolt of the musical construction is treated with the utmost care, every cadential juncture managed with enchanting subtlety. Not once does this opulence of expression threaten to relinquish its position to the maudlin forces of sentimentality' (MusicalCriticism.com)

'As with the first disc in this cycle, the performances by the Florestan Trio are models of sensitive chamber music playing. Balances among the three instruments are always well judged; the rhythms in the scherzos are well-sprung, while the slow movements have warmth without schmaltz' (ClassicsToday.com, USA)

The Florestan Trio is one of the world's leading piano trios, and imbues every performance and recording with the 'palpable joy and unerring sense of ensemble' (The Times) which is their trademark.

Dvorák's Piano Trios are full of the instinctive Slavic vigour which is so characteristic of his music-a contemporary commentator wrote: 'The Slavic character of Dvorák's music stands out in an unforced manner, without any affectation; the natural simplicity of his music is the magic spell that inevitably captures the listener.' Dvorák was also greatly influenced by Brahms and Schumann, and a deep, complex Romantic sensibility is present in these works.

Suk's beautiful Elegy Op 23, dating from 1902, was written for a memorial event celebrating the life of Julius Zeyer (1841-1901). Zeyer was a writer of novels and epic poems steeped in the history and legends of Bohemia. This work gives full voice to the composer's rich lyricism.

This CD completes the Florestan's recordings of four Dvorák trios.