Debut Album
Since debuting at #5 on iTunes for “Best Seller New Release” and #20 on “Chamber Music Albums”, Trio Céleste’s debut album featuring works of Beethoven, Dvorak, and the revolutionary collaborative project “Constellations”, has continued to receive rave reviews from some of the most respected critics in the country:
“The US West Coast-based Céleste Trio may have been formed only four years ago, but judging from its first disc it has an important career ahead of it. The playing…is not only accomplished but unfailingly stylish – crisply turned yet high in character…the players contrast sparkling exuberance in the fast sections with heart-rending tragedy in the slow ones…”
– Edward Bhesania, The Strad
“The recording shows the trio in typically fine form, commanding yet graceful in the Beethoven, luxuriant but subtle in the Dvorák. The elegant polish these players exhibit as a group and as individuals never gets in the way of intimate expression.”
– Timothy Mangan, Orange County Register
“The Beethoven performance itself gets beyond the merely academic…Trio Céleste demonstrates clearly and engagingly that they know how to play with this music.”
– Stephen Smoliar, The Examiner
“Together, these three make music that is absolute magic. They play with flawless focus, each seeming to follow the others’ leads during each and every second. Highly recommended. TOP PICK.”
– Don Seven, BabySue
“Trio Celeste plays this early Beethoven gem with delicacy and bravura, yet never imposing interpretive excesses on the music. Constellations: Variations on a Theme by Beethoven is an altogether bold bit of programming and an eminently successful one.”
– Rafael de Acha, Rafael Music Notes
“So in the end we get a wonderful earful of the exceptional talents of this young trio and a program that brings some of the past into the music world of today. This is a striking release, worth it alone for “Constellations” but giving us the impetus for those variations in the Beethoven trio in a wonderful performance, and then extending our appreciation of Trio Céleste with some very spirited Dvorak…Trio Céleste prevail victoriously over some very beautiful music.”
– Grego Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review
The album includes Beethoven’s Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2, Dvorak’s “Dumky” Trio, and a special commission project titled “Constellations – Variations on a Theme by Beethoven” featuring new music from some of today’s most important composers including Samuel Adler, Mike Block, Paul Dooley, Eugene Drucker, Peter Erskine, Eric Guinivan, Fred Hersch, Pierre Jalbert, Jim Scully, and Cristina Spinei.