CD4/2009

MusicWeb International

“There is potency and vivid pleasure throughout the performance … This [recording] fills a real need and catches [The Czech Trio] on the wing, on tour, and on splendid form. The recording is equally vivid and allows one to hear considerable detail without detracting in any way from the ensemble sureties on show. It goes to show how immediate, and yet sympathetic, good microphone placement can be. This excellent disc earns my warm admiration.”
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International, January 2010

“The Beethoven Trio is played with astonishing unanimity, from its almost aggressive opening through the wonderfully mysterious string duetting of the largo to the vivacious finale … [The] fabulously good Dvořák playing […] alone is worth the price of the CD … The [Martinů] is only a four minute encore and not the entire 2nd Piano Trio: it is brilliantly done nonetheless.”

“The recorded sound positively leaps out of the speakers. [T]his disc is highly recommendable since it preserves a classic group performing at their best. The audience is very quiet until needing to applaud vociferously at the end of each item.”
—Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International, May 2018

American Record Guide

“This performance [of the Dumky Trio] is perhaps the finest that I have heard. It has the proper Czech lilt. The notes reprint some of the reviews of the concert that appeared in the newspapers in the days that followed, and they concur that the Dumky was superbly played.”

“The Beethoven Trio was also well played … Overall, it is one of the finest performances of this work that I know.”

“The Martinů is the encore. It’s too bad that the whole trio wasn’t performed as it, too, is very well played.”
—Carl Bauman, American Record Guide, July/August 2010

International Record Review

“The Czech Trio […] was a formidable ensemble live: fearless but superbly controlled, committed and stylish. These characteristics come through impressively in the two trios recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in October 1972: Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ and Dvořák’s ‘Dumky’. The Beethoven is excellent, but the Dvořák is the highlight: a performance of remarkable eloquence and understanding.”
—Nigel Simeone, International Record Review, June 2012

The Strad

“The audience is commendably silent, and the playing remarkably poised and assured…”
—The Strad, July 2012

BBC Music Magazine

“…the Czech Trio (including legendary pianist Josef Páleníček) are at their most spontaneously joyful in the Ghost Trio and emotionally arresting in the Dumky.”
—BBC Music Magazine, August 2012

Personal feedback

“[…] artists are often most inspired when playing live, as opposed to the cold loneliness of the recording studio. And I must say I find your recording very good and am very happy to own it now. I will certainly recommend it.”
—Jean-Gaspard Páleníček (grandson of the pianist), private correspondence, 14th October 2010

Customer review

“[T]his is a recording in sound quality that is startlingly natural yet exciting. The recorded balance is perfect […] and the sound stage is immaculately presented … [A] musical gem worthy of any chamber music collection…”
—Amazon review by ‘David’, 5th March 2016