Audiophiles take note: this is among the best example of recorded sound available -- almost enough to let the listener smell the rosin on the violin bow, feel the touch of the keyboard, and sense the intake of breath before the soprano sings. Producer Michael Stockhen and engineer Jaroslav Frankowski (working in Brussels in July 2006 in a studio aptly called The Right Place), deserve enormous credit.
The performances themselves are also highly recommendable, even if they are upstaged by the recording itself. In
Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2, pianist
Plamena Mangova, violinist
Natalia Prischepenko, and cellist
Sebastian Klinger are both pensive and courageous. With a fearless attack and a very tight ensemble, they convey the work's mordant wit and morbid tone with strength and sympathy. When joined by soprano
Tatyana Melnychenko in the same composer's Seven Romances to poems by Alexander Blok, the purely instrumental trio is transformed by the soprano's searing intensity into a trio of almost vocal expressiveness.