Dvorak: Piano Trios [Import]

Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Josef [Composer] Suk (Composer), Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Ahn Trio (Performer), Lucia Ahn (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ahn Trio, Lucia Ahn
• Composer: Antonin Dvorak, Josef [Composer] Suk, Dmitry Shostakovich
• Audio CD (January 12, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B00000GCAL
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,201 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This trio is being promoted as a sister act of glamour girls: the record credits the creators of their wardrobe, hairstyles, and makeup before the producer and engineer. This is too bad, not only because these musicians really play very well, with impressive brilliance, a good sound, and true sisterly rapport, but because it seems to encourage them to put their egos before the music. They play fast and loose with Dvorák's tempo indications, take enormous liberties, and exaggerate everything to underline contrast and effect. This gives their playing a lot of character but also leads to willful distortion. Worst of all, the violinist and cellist slide incessantly, making the piano part an oasis of stability. Dvorák's "Dumky" Trio suffers most; Suk's Elegy has a nice, dreamy quality; the Ahn sisters' excessive approach works best in the Shostakovich. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finest performance of Dvorak Dumky Trio I've yet heard, August 17, 2006

By 

jt52 "jt52" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dvorak: Piano Trios (Audio CD)

I'm going through a thing for the Dvorak Trios right now and ran across this CD, which I highly recommend. The performance is very musical and imaginative -- the sisters take pauses and bend the tempos to really good effect, the playing is emotional and, for the most part (the violinist is good but not great), technically very sound. In fact, the sisters manage to make this Trio a little bit less stodgy than I thought prior to hearing the performance (it's not as strong a piece as the Op 26 or Op 65 trios, IMHO). This is high praise.

The performances are excellent throughout but I'm not giving it 5 stars because I think the two other pieces on the CD -- a Suk Elegy and Shostakovich's disappointing 1st Trio -- are not up to the caliber of the Dumky Trio.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crisp classical, May 3, 2008

By 

H. A. Erwin (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dvorak: Piano Trios (Audio CD)

I REALLY ENJOYED THE CRISP, CLEAR NOTES THE TRIO PLAYED THROUGHOUT THE WORKS. THE SELECTIONS ARE GOOD AND THEY SEEM TO ENJOY PLAYING THEM. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THIS ONE.

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classical Music comes up for air, July 26, 2000

By 

Michael P. Moore (Bozeman, MT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dvorak: Piano Trios (Audio CD)

The Ahn Trio has done Classical Music a great service in their interpretations of these works. Passion and virtuosity are exuded from every track of this recording. Whether due to sisterly kinetics, or plain old musical genius, the result is a perfectly balanced performance. This is not to say that the music is static, but rather that each instrument is able to sing, sail, dance, drone, wail or whisper, while never overpowering, or being drowned by the other two. The musical interchage between the three sisters is magical. Their performance of the Suk Elegy is enough to make any listener homesick for Prague. What the Ahn Trio does best is breathe life into the classical repertoir. They know how to move. They do it without histrionics and with masterful success.