Hermitage Trio’s New Album, “Spanish Impressions”

Released on Reference Recordings, the album comprises original works by four Spanish composers

Based in the U.S., the award-winning Hermitage Piano Trio comprises violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. Their latest album, “Spanish Impressions,” is their second with Reference Recordings (RR).

Exploring the musical heritage of Spain, the album includes Enrique Fernández Arbós’s Tres Piezas Originales en Estilo Español, Op. 1; the Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor, Op. 76 by Joaquín Turina, who composed it after the death of his daughter; Gaspar Cassadó’s Piano Trio in C Major; and Mariano Perelló’s Tres Impresiones.

The compositions on this album are original works for piano trio and all four composers are interconnected through their relationships with each other.

Arbós was a celebrated conductor who also orchestrated Albeniz’s Iberia and Perello was a violinist who studied with Albeniz — both had close ties to Turina, whose works Arbos often conducted, and Cassado, a celebrated cellist.

A multi-year project, this album was recorded in April 2023 by RR’s own GRAMMY Award-winning and multi­-nominated engineering team at California’s Skywalker Sound.

While there are a few existing recordings of Turina and Cassadó’s works, those by Arbós and Perello are rarities, explained the album producers Victor and Marina Ledin.

As the score to Perello’s Tres Impresiones only exists in a few European libraries, it took the recording team around two years to access PDF files of it during the pandemic.

“Over the years, the three of us always loved performing the trios of Turina and Cassadó, so we wanted to explore other works from Spanish composers written around the turn of the 20th century,” the trio told The Violin Channel. “We were very excited when we came across these six beautiful and unique dances crafted by the underappreciated and somewhat forgotten composers Enrique Arbós and Mariano Perelló. 

“The rhythms, passion and the oftentimes spirited dancing that accompanies the unmistaken melodies that come from ‘España’ are presented on this album in various forms,” they continued. “All four composers are able to demonstrate their unique identity and style in these compositions and we hope that listeners will join us on our journey to hear some of Spain’s great composers present their cultural gems.”

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

The album trailer can be viewed below. 

The Hermitage Piano Trio’s first album, “Rachmaninoff,” released with RR, 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.

The trio’s 2023/2024 concert season highlights include performances at Newport Classical, VCU Arts, Chicago Chamber Music Society, Concord Chamber Music Society, Friends of Chamber Music Miami, Harvard Musical Association, Ladies’ Morning Musical Club, and other notable series.