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Catalog No: RR-147

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Hermitage Piano Trio - Rachmaninoff

Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff album was nominated for three 2020 GRAMMY® Awards in the following categories:
∙ Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
∙ Best Engineered Album, Classical
∙ Producer Of The Year, Classical

Hermitage Piano Trio, signed to a multiple-album recording deal with Reference Recordings, are excited to announce their debut CD. The album is comprised of the piano trios of Sergey Rachmaninoff: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor; Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9; and Vocalise.

You can buy this recording (in various formats) via numerous retailers, including:

Reviews

Donald Vroon selects this recording as one of his 2019 Albums of the Year.

American Record Guide (January / February 2020)

The Hermitage Piano Trio’s performances are superbly well done, and the extraordinary presence, focus, transparency, and depth of Keith Johnson’s state-of-the-art recording makes the players really shine. These are fine and outstanding young musicians, and this is a very promising debut album.

Fanfare (November / December 2019)

The Hermitage Piano Trio prove another strong contender within a catalogue of riches. The ensemble brings a darker, more brooding vantage point to the 19-year-old composer’s one-movement G minor Trio, tastefully stretching out phrases…while favouring relatively massive sonorities. … Thoroughly detailed annotations and ravishingly balanced surround-sound engineering lend further distinction to this release.

Gramophone (Awards Issue - November 2019)

Outstanding playing in intense, heartfelt performances. Striking the right balance between interpretative nobility and expressive candour is particularly challenging in music of such claustrophobic intensity, yet the Hermitage Piano Trio...proves fully equal to the task.

The Strad (October 2019)

[The Hermitage Piano Trio] sound Russian and romantic; they have ardor, but they are not pushy about it. This is best recording I have heard of Trio 1—and that goes for the sound as well. [In Trio 2] they simply give it the full brooding but ardent romantic treatment. … the Hermitage wants to burst forth with passion, to let the whole world know! I am really glad that someone can still play that way in our utterly unromantic age. Great recordings are still being made: there are fewer, but here’s a great example.

American Record Guide (September / October 2019)

The performances [on the Rachmaninoff disc] are as intensely satisfying as a concert hall experience...this album is among the most convincingly realistic recordings I've ever heard. Not to be missed.

The Absolute Sound (September 2019)

[The Hermitage Piano Trio] demonstrates to listeners what truly great performances of wonderful music are capable of conveying.

The Whole Note (September 2019)

The Hermitage Piano Trio has the full measure of this vivid and colourful music, chamber works which are not afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve – but never in a forced, sentimental manner. In fact, it is the muscle and sinew of these performances which render them virtually definitive. This absolute unmissable disc...makes for a superb listening experience - and not just for aficionados of Rachmaninoff.

Classical CD Choice (August 2019)

Violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov and pianist Ilya Kazantsev combine into one intense vehicle to reveal all the drama, virtuosity and controlled combustion of [Rachmaninoff].

Boston Concert Review (July 2019)

A gorgeously tempered triptych of the Rachmaninoff melancholy yet inexpressively lovely sensibility.

Audiophile Audition (June 2019)

Painting with a perceptive but nonetheless firm brush a musical picture covering all shades from dark sienna to light blush. … wasn’t it high time to have both trios on one disc with detailed, historically informed liner notes and, as the proverbial cherry on the cake, a fine Vocalise arrangement as bonus? What more can one possibly ask for?

HRAudio.net (June 2019)

Truly splendid...all three members of the trio & their recording producer collaborating to present us with a superbly effective aural rendering of these early indications of Rachmaninoff's slowly blossoming compositional mastery.

MusicWeb International (June 2019)

The Rachmaninoff recording was chosen by the Classique HD (France) as Album of the Week!

Classique HD (June 2019)

This is the ensemble’s first recording, although its members have featured elsewhere as soloists – but the group’s impassioned, deeply involving beauty of phrasing and cooperation is worthy of trios that have been around far longer. The two [piano] trios receive absolutely splendid readings, filled with warmth and passion … as an exploration of the emotional depth that Rachmaninoff could extract…it is…an impressive achievement.

Infodad.com (June 2019)