We were rehearsing this week in the home of a friend who keeps a pet canary in a cage in the kitchen. The canary was silent as we arrived and sat round the table, chatting and drinking coffee. But as soon as we went next door, picked up our instruments and started to play, the canary [...]

For the past few days the trio has been rehearsing intensively. Over the next ten days we have two concerts at the Bath Mozartfest, a fundraising concert and dinner for the Florestan Trust, a concert at the University of Cambridge, a concert in the Wigmore Hall (with a world premiere), and three concerts in the Gulbenkian [...]

At last the printed score has arrived for the trio by Huw Watkins. We’re giving the world premiere in the Wigmore Hall on November 25.
When the newly published score arrived, I already knew the notes of the piano part, because I’ve been working from an electronic PDF which I printed out on loose A4 pages. [...]

To Steinway Hall in London, to choose a piano for the Florestan Trio’s  Hyperion recording of Shostakovich next January. Whenever I’m able to select an piano, I have to do my research well ahead of time, because the best ones get booked up months in advance. Each piano is slightly different from the next, so for each new [...]

The Florestan Trio’s new disc, a second volume of Haydn piano trios (Hyperion CDA67757), is just arriving in the shops, and the first review appeared yesterday. The magazine International Record Review (October) has given it their ‘Oustanding’ mark.  The review is mainly about the music itself, but it says:
‘Haydn would doubtless have thought well of [...]