OUT NOW | Trio con Brio Copenhagen Records Shostakovich and Arensky Piano Trios

 

Trio con Brio Copenhagen comprises the sisters, violinist Soo-Jin Hong and cellist Soo-Kyung Hong from South Korea; and Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer, who is also Soo-Kyung’s spouse.

The Copenhagen-based group was formed in 1999 at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. They are recognized for their fresh approach to the core repertoire and commitment to bringing music to young people.

Their latest Orchid Classics album “Shostakovich & Arensky piano trios,” features Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No.1 in C minor Poème, Op.8 and his Piano Trio No.2 in E minor, Op.67; alongside Anton Arensky’s Piano Trio No.1 in D minor, Op.32. 

The album was hailed as the Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and was singled out by BBC Music Magazine as a “Chamber Choice” of the month.

Additionally, as a winner of the 2022 German Record Critics’ Award, this disc was selected amongst an array of other winning artists including the Berlin Philharmonic, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Quatuor Ebène, and Antoine Tamestit.

This year, the 155-member jury of the award compiled a list of 294 albums which were chosen among new releases from the last quarter of 2021. Out of that pool, 31 albums received the prestigious award.

“Heavy marble chords burst, and velvet melodies spread warmth in the pitch-black night. Melancholy weighs heavily on Arenski’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, but the Trio con Brio Copenhagen pierces it with a streamlined elegance,” wrote music journalist Thilo Braun for the jury on the trio’s album. 

“On the other hand, emotional chaos reigns in Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor: does this lightness want to make you laugh? Or is it already madness, raging in the forward-rushing virtuosity? It’s the ambiguity that makes this record shine so bright,” Braun concluded.

To listen to and purchase the album, click here. 

A short video introduction to the album can be watched below"

 

Trio con Brio Copenhagen serves as artistic director of the Chamber Music at Lundsgaard festival and of the Hellerup Chamber Music Society in Copenhagen.

Soo-Jin plays an Andrea Guarneri violin, Soo-Kyung plays a Grancino cello, and Jens is Denmark’s first Steinway Artist. The sisters are also endorsed by JagarStrings and Thomastik-Infeld Vienna.