recordings
New
Spanish Piano Quartets
Trio Lirico
Josu De Solaun
Label: Marchvivo
This album features the live recording of the concert given by Trio Lirico and pianist Josu de Solaun at the Fundación Juan March in Madrid on April 23, 2025. It marks the world premiere recording of the two piano quartets composed in 1902 by the Spanish composers Vicente Zurrón and Bartolomé Pérez Casas...
The Strad Issue: November 2025
Description: Utterly committed performances bring these Spaniards to life
Musicians: Trio Lirico, Josu de Solaun (piano)
Works: Casas: Piano Quartet in D minor. Zurrón: Piano Quartet in D major
Catalogue number: MARCHVIVO MV014
This release – of two world-premiere live recordings – continues the label MarchVivo’s work in promoting neglected Spanish music. Both pieces stem from the early years of the 20th century, when homegrown Spanish chamber music was nascent. Vicente Zurrón (1871–1915), a pupil of Ruperto Chapí (best-known now for his zarzuelas), wrotehis Piano Quartet in 1902 for the first competition run by the Philharmonic Society of Madrid. It was the winning entry, though there were claims that Chapí had overruled the other judges in favour of his pupil. Bartolomé Pérez Casas (1873–1956) was the founder of the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra and described in an obituary as ‘the highest and most senior figure in Spanish music’. Casas’s is the weaker piece, with longueurs in the first and third movements, but even here Trio Lirico and pianist Josu de Solaun produce an unswervingly committed performance. There’s a haunting quality to the muted violin tone in the second movement Balada, and an effortless lyrical flow in the slow third movement.
It’s Zurrón’s Piano Quartet that really takes wing, a piece with clear roots in Austro Germany but with the occasional subtle Spanish reference. The performance by turns exudes exuberant sparkle, weighty introspection and joyful virtuosity. The balance and acoustic are ideal, the booklet note offers useful context, but above all the playing shines throughout, both individuallyand collectively.
( EDWARD BHESANIA)
Treasures; Eugene Ysaÿe: Streichtrio Le Chimay; Peter Eötvös: Streichtrio (in memoriam
Christophe Desjardins); Zoltan Kodaly: Intermezzo für Streichtrio; Ernst von Dohnanyi:
Serenade für Streichtrio op. 10; Trio Lirico; # Audite 97.815; Aufnahmen 11. 2022,
Veröffentlichung 02.02.2024 (50’56) - Rezension von Alain Steffen
These are sunken treasures for string trio, and they are played here. And the Trio Lirico plays these Trios by Ysaÿe and Eotvös, the Intermezzo by Kodaly, and the five-movement Serenade by Dohnanyi with an energy, an intensity, and a joy that is simply mesmerizing. Franziska Pietsch, violin, Sophia Reuter, viola, and Hila Karani, cello, are this « wild » trio that moves with joy but also with seriousness through these wonderful trios of the 20th and 21st centuries, showing with every not t that modern music can be very musical and extremely entertaining at the same time. Or very serious and heartfelt, as in the trio ‘in memoriam Christophe Desjardins’ by Peter Eötvös. The Trio Lirico has no problem translating the musical language into sound and is as virtuosic as it is sensitive in its approach. The interpretations are authentic and lively, the convincing result of a well-functioning communication. All the works are worth listening to and discovering. In this sense, this is an album with high repertoire value.
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Treasures; Eugene Ysaÿe: Streichtrio Le Chimay; Peter Eötvös: Streichtrio (in memoriam
Christophe Desjardins); Zoltan Kodaly: Intermezzo für Streichtrio; Ernst von Dohnanyi:
Serenade für Streichtrio op. 10; Trio Lirico; # Audite 97.815; Aufnahmen 11. 2022,
Veröffentlichung 02.02.2024 (50’56) - Rezension von Alain Steffen
These are sunken treasures for string trio, and they are played here. And the Trio Lirico plays these Trios by Ysaÿe and Eotvös, the Intermezzo by Kodaly, and the five-movement Serenade by Dohnanyi with an energy, an intensity, and a joy that is simply mesmerizing. Franziska Pietsch, violin, Sophia Reuter, viola, and Hila Karani, cello, are this « wild » trio that moves with joy but also with seriousness through these wonderful trios of the 20th and 21st centuries, showing with every not t that modern music can be very musical and extremely entertaining at the same time. Or very serious and heartfelt, as in the trio ‘in memoriam Christophe Desjardins’ by Peter Eötvös. The Trio Lirico has no problem translating the musical language into sound and is as virtuosic as it is sensitive in its approach. The interpretations are authentic and lively, the convincing result of a well-functioning communication. All the works are worth listening to and discovering. In this sense, this is an album with high repertoire value.
read all
Trio Lirico
String Trios by Weinberg - Penderecki - Schnittke
Das Orchester
Eine gehörige Portion streicherisches Können, viel Übersicht und eine überragende gestalterische Linie hört man dem Trio Lirico in jedem der drei Werke an. Franziska Pietsch, Sophia Reuter und Johannes Krebs klingen zu jeder Zeit wie eine homogene Einheit – in manchen Passagen wie ein einziges Instrument, in anderen wie ein perfekt ausbalanciertes Orchester.
Pizzicato
Wiederum bleiben sie ihrem Ansatz treu, jeder seine Stimme zu kultivieren und trotzdem ein gemeinsames Klangbild zu generieren. Dabei kommen ihnen ihre ausgezeichneten Fähigkeiten auf ihren Instrumenten zu Gute. Mit allen diesen Zutaten gestalten sie einen deutlich die modernen Aspekte der Musik herausstellenden Höreindruck, der die dissonanten Elemente betont. The Trio Lirico has recorded three string trios from the former Soviet period, works by Penderecki, Schnittke and Weinberg. Caring for an individual playing, the three musicians nevertheless achieve a coherent and well balanced sound. The performances are intense and underline the modern aspects of the three pieces.
Fono Forum
Das Trio Lirico, bestehend aus Franziska Pietsch, Sophia Reuter und Johannes Krebs, erweist sich in diesen Einspielungen nicht nur als ein mit makelloser Technik bestens eingespieltes Trio, sondern verwandelt auch die besondere Intensität des Triospiels in eine Intensität der Ausdrucksgestaltung. Sie färbt hier Werke ein, die ohnehin schon abgrundtief melancholisch, ja schwermütig gestimmt sind.
Fanfare
The other interesting feature of Weinberg’s String Trio is the distinctly Jewish Andante middle movement, with a melody rich in augmented seconds and played with daring portamento by violinist Franziska Pietsch. Performance-wise, this is the highlight of the disc, and it’s little wonder that Spotify trailed the release with this as a preview: It’s clearly the single of the album.
American record guide
” Nonetheless, the powerful Trio Lirico holds its grip on the work from start to finish. In brief, these are peerless performances of music from troubled times, a lesson in how to make ugliness beautiful. That sounds like a task for our increasingly war-like times.
Musica
I tre musicisti del Trio Lirico offrono esecuzioni esemplari delle tre difficili composizioni, attraverso un’interpretazione sensibile ed equilibrata, sfoderando suono d’ensemble di grande qualità, e la puntuale valorizzazione dei diversi effetti timbrici voluti dai compositori, dando prova di ottima intesa e di solida capacità di lettura. Una magistrale riuscita che suscita grande emozione ed ammirazione.
Trio Lirico
Max Reger
Complete String Trios & Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 133
Pizzicato
Das ‘Trio Lirico’ hat in der kurzen Zeit seines Bestehens schon eine außerordentliche Reife erreicht, die sich in einem ausgeglichenen homogenen Spiel äußert, das jedoch die persönlichen und instrumentalen Eigenheiten seiner Mitglieder nicht leugnet... Diese Aufnahme scheint die Premiere des Trios auf dem Tonträgermarkt zu sein. Dazu kann man ohne Zweifel sagen, dass das Ensemble, auch mit dem Pianisten, einen famosen Start hingelegt hat, der die Hoffnung auf weitere erfolgreiche Schritte begründet.
For a large part of the audience, Max Reger’s chamber music is often difficult to access. With his two string trios and the second piano quartet however, the composer has written a more catchy music. The Trio Lirico and pianist Detlev Eisinger are completely at one with Reger’s works and convince with a beautifully blended sonority and a refined musicianship.
The Scotsman
The performers are the Trio Lirico and pianist Detlev Eisinger, whose performances elicit the rich complexities as well as the clarity of Reger’s writing.
Clic musique
Le Trio Lirico fondé en 2014 anime ces pages avec un mélange d'autorité et une ferveur presque débordante d'expressivité…. Bien bel hommage.
Audio
Hier spielen drei gleichberechtigte und selbstbewusste Solisten, die sich zu einem homogenen Ganzen ergänzen. Als kongenialer Partner tritt Detlev Eisinger beim vollmundigen Klavierquartett hinzu. [...] Ein gelungenes Debütalbum des Trios Lirico.
WDR 3 TonArt
Das Trio Lirico kostet die sanglichen Melodien von Regers Musik genüsslich aus [...] demonstriert ein hohes technisches und künstlerisches Niveau. [...] Wer Max Reger sonst als zu sperrig erlebt und deshalb nur schwer einen Zugang zu seinem Schaffen findet, sollte dem Album eine Chance geben. Es lohnt sich.
Der neue Tag
[...] der Klang ist ausgesprochen direkt, als säße man geradezu in Griffweite der Musiker. Jeder Bogenansatz, jede der reichhaltigen Klangfarben ist glasklar zu hören. [...] Ein reger Reger-Genuss!
De Gelderlander
„Waar droomdebuut voor Trio Lirico“
BBC
“...avalanche of emotions for a long long period of time...
….as an ensemble they work very very effectively as a quartet..
….a real sense of balance….
…. there is really width and verve in this piece particularly in the finale the way we hear it here “