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HAYDN Piano Trios Volume 2
THE FLORESTAN TRIO
Piano Trio in E major Hob XV:28
Piano Trio in E flat major Hob XV: 29
Piano Trio in E flat major Hob XV:30
Piano Trio in E flat minor Hob XV: 31
HYPERION CDA 67757

“Susan Tomes is superb in these works; her fluid pianism is a joy to hear, beautiful in tone, crisp in articulation. Violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Richard Lester are on her level, and the tightly knit ensemble delivers a full, rich sound along with lightning-fast reactions to Haydn’s many twists and turns”.          (La Folia, USA)

“The Florestans play with a spring in their fingers Haydn’s last four piano trios dating from the mid-1790s”. Classic FM Magazine

Many outstanding musicians of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries never performed in public for one simple reason – they were women. When you hear this excellent recording by the Florestan’s, thank goodness things have changed for the better. Haydn admired many women pianists, especially Therese Jansen (a pupil of Clementi) who he met in London in the 1790s and he felt that she was among the capital’s most important pianists. Haydn wrote a set of three piano trios for her which he published in London in 1797. Here is Haydn stimulated by both the instrument and the player and it is certainly some of his most original music.

The ensemble work of this trio is ‘as one’, it is a remarkable recording. This not merely domestic entertainment, Haydn challenges the performers with unexpected turns and surprising modulations and bold dramatic gestures. This is a gem – buy it!

by Mike Ford