2020 Season Retrospective: “Hermitage Piano Trio”
The first concert of the Blue Hill Concert Association 2020 season was held on January 19 and featured the Hermitage Piano Trio. Oh, my, what a great beginning to our winter chamber series! The musicality of these three young men was exquisite, precise, and passionate. Their program included trios from well-known composers — Clara Schumann (their performance of her Piano Trio Op. 17 left me in tears) and Sergei Rachmaninoff and Franz Schubert, as well as music from composers less familiar to our audience — Joaquin Turina and Gaspar Cassado, whose “Trio in C major” board member Arnold Berleant aptly described as “a fitting conclusion to an unusual and exciting program.”
Played third on that January afternoon, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor “Trio élégiaque” is also featured on their 2019 “Rachmaninoff” Reference Recordings album nominated for three Grammys including Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Best Engineered Album, Classical; and Producer Of The Year, Classical. Here is the Hermitage Piano Trio’s album performance of “Trio élégiaque” for your listening pleasure!