Reference Recordings is pleased to announce Spanish Impressions, the second album from the Hermitage Piano Trio. 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.” 

The Hermitage Piano Trio consists of violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. They have been praised for its “polished and spirited interpretations” (The Washington Post), “absolute rhythmic precision and dynamic exuberance” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and “powerful, intelligent and deeply moving performances” (The Seattle Times). Their first album Rachmaninoff (also available at NativeDSD) 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.

Hermitage Piano Trio
Misha Keylin, Violin
Sergey Antonov, Cello
Ilya Kazantsev, Piano