Florestan Trio & Susan Gritton - Shostakovich: Piano Trios & Songs (2011)

After sixteen years of exceptional achievement and vast critical acclaim, the career paths of the members of The Florestan Trio are diverging. Sadly, the trio will disband at the end of this year and this disc marks the end of their studio career. For their final recording, the trio performs an all- Shostakovich program comprising the two piano trios and the Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, for which they are joined by soprano Susan Gritton. Written in 1923, the first trio was an astonishing achievement for a seventeen-year-old student. The second, one of the composer s greatest masterpieces, was premiered some twenty years later. The romances were the response to a request by Mstislav Rostropovich for repertoire he and his wife could perform together. As always, The Florestan Trio displays the impeccable interpretative judgment and musicianship that have been the hallmark of their many recordings for Hyperion.