Reference Recordings writes: “Reference Recordings is pleased to announce Spanish Impressions, our second album with this elite trio. The Hermitage Piano Trio consists of violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. Their first album on our label, Rachmaninoff, was nominated for three 2020 GRAMMY® Awards in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, Best Engineered Album, Classical, and Producer Of The Year, Classical.
In SPANISH IMPRESSIONS, the trio explores the rich and diverse musical heritage of Spain, from the folkloric dances of Arbós’s Tres Piezas Originales en Estilo Español, Op. 1, to the lyrical and expressive Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor, Op. 76 by Turina, who composed it after the death of his daughter. The album also showcases the virtuosic and passionate Piano Trio in C Major by Cassadó, a renowned cellist who infused his music with Spanish and Catalan elements, and the Tres Impresiones by Perelló, a violinist who dedicated his work to his friends and colleagues in the Trio Barcelona. This project has been years in the making. The album was recorded in April 2023 by RR’s own GRAMMY® winning and multi nominated engineering team at legendary Skywalker Sound, in Marin County, California. Here is a statement from GRAMMY®winning producers Victor and Marina Ledin describing how it came about:
“For the last several years we have been exchanging scores, ideas and developing programs. The trio had been performing two extraordinary Spanish trios by Turina and Cassado—romantic, exotic and lush works. Using these two works as anchor points, we built around them “bookends”—three Spanish dances by Arbos and three Spanish impressions by Perello. All four composers are interconnected to one another through their relationships to each other. Arbos was a celebrated conductor who also orchestrated Albeniz’s Iberia and Perello was a violinist who studied with Albeniz and performed with Granados—both of these gentlemen had close ties to Turina (Arbos conducted many of his works) and Cassado (a celebrated cellist, and next to Casals, among the greatest cellists of Spain). Yes, there are a few recordings out there of the Turina and Cassado, while the Arbos and Perello are musical gems and rarities. The Perello score only exists in a few European libraries—it took us most of 2 years to get PDFs of the score during the pandemic.”
Reference Recordings
For nearly 50 years, REFERENCE RECORDINGS® has been one of the most innovative and respected independent labels in the music business. Reference Recordings® releases have been highly praised for their dedication to high-quality sound in the service of great music. Founder Tam Henderson (multi-year GRAMMY® nominee for Producer of the Year), was joined in 1978 by Keith O. Johnson (2011 GRAMMY® winner, and 12 additional nominations). Some 150 projects later, RR is still recording what many consider to be the finest-sounding classical, jazz and blues discs in the world.
Reference Recordings are distributed in North America by Naxos USA, and internationally through a network of independent distributors listed at www.referencerecordings.com