Reviews

"A world-class ensemble. Yes, world-class."
—The Los Angeles Times

"A powerhouse American chamber group."
—The Toronto Star

"A rousing performance...the players poured their hearts into the music."
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

"...pristine and sparkling. The ensemble soared with an impeccable balance...The groups' execution of Tchaikovsky's trio was the tour de force of the evening..."
—The Washington Post

"Transcendent playing...the artists received a standing, cheering ovation."
—The Buffalo News

"The trio played with conviction and ravishing beauty."
—St. Louis Post Dispatch

"The Amadeus Trio was a hit in its Salt Lake City performance Thursday. The players total involvement in the music made for the kind of performance a listener wishes could last all evening."
—The Salt Lake Tribune

"For the Birmingham Chamber Music Society it's becoming an annual event: The Amadeus Trio came, played and conquered. The group honored the music in the highest possible way at every turn...red hot...brilliant."
—The Birmingham News

"The New York-based Amadeus Trio triumphed...theme after theme sang out with all the fluidity of a vocalise."
—The Oregonian (Portland)

"The physical and emotional centerpiece was Shostakovich's elegiac Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67. Written in 1944, this is a work written about the horrors of the Holocaust, heightened by empathy derived from Shostakovich's own persecution by Soviet cultural authorities.

From the whispered upper register cello harmonics at the outset through the second movement's diabolic dance and the aching lament of the slow movement , there is a gradual buildup of tension. This finds release in the Finale's Jewish folk feeling that generates a demonic and frenzied momentum, with just a hint of hope in the quiet major-key speculation of the music's closing measures.

The artists were in complete control of all the music's changing contours and received a standing, cheering ovation.

The program's concluding surprise was Mendelssohn's Trio No.2 in C minor, Op. 66...This is very becoming music, one of Mendelssohn's finest chamber works that sounds like the spirit of Bach was in the composer's mind at the time. There is chorale-like religiosity in much of the writing, and the Amadeus players gave it the best performance of the evening. This was fortunate because only that kind of transcendent playing would have been able to hold its own after the emotional wringer of the Shostakovich trio."

—Herman Trotter
The Buffalo News

"The Amadeus players were fully in touch with Shostakovich's turbulent mindset throughout their reading, making something slithery and desolate out of the first movement intro and stamping with lumbering gusto through the sardonic peasant dance in the last movement. Pianist Hiroko Sasaki played with galvanic power in the Shostakovich, then turned around to treat the cascading runs in Mendelssohn's music like so many strings of shimmering pearls. In its own way this music is no less trenchant than the Shostakovich. But its warm heart is bathed in such warm, naturally sprung melodies that the effect is ravishing. The strings—sweeter and throatier sounding here—sang those melodies eloquently, weaving effectively around Sasaki's radiant playing."

—Joe Banno
The Washington Post

Palm Beach Daily News critics pick their favorite and most memorable Kravis Center events of the season:

"Indeed, thanks to The Amadeus Trio, one could finally hear a convincing performance of Felix Mendelssohn's true masterpiece on the genre, his second piano trio in C minor (instead of the usual first, in D minor). Also enlightening was the group's take on a trio by Joaquin Turina, a Spanish composer who deserves better recognition.

But it was the performance of the Dmitri Shostakovich Trio in E minor that left the most impressive mark. Indeed, the group's control of this highly disturbing work, in which sometimes the Jewish victims of the Holocaust are portrayed in a danse macabre before their Nazi executioners, was nothing short of memorable."

—Marcio Bezerra
Palm Beach Daily News

"The entire trio impressed with the richness of the violin and cello parts, which afforded both musicians ample opportunity to display an absolutely gorgeous tone. The piano provided firm support, and soared brilliantly in the solo passages. This was a remarkable performance."
—The Vero Beach Press Journal

"...a glorious entree. It's unusual to hear such refined ensemble playing, combined with this depth of connection to life behind the music...a brilliant and moving musical experience. This was a very satisfying concert! Come back, Amadeus."
—The Carmel Daily Herald