Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-bit, FLAC; Paraty 5186598 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

This programme by a Belgian piano trio which debuted in 2011 contrasts those by Shostakovich, written (No 1) as a teenager, the other during the war years. His contemporary Sergei Prokofiev is represented by the Cinq Mélodies, ‘songs without words’, revised in 1925 for violin and piano, and the early Ballade for cello and piano. It’s quite a shock to hear this flamboyant music after the introversion of the Shostakovich masterpiece (especially as the transfer levels leap up for the duos!). Reconstructed from incomplete parts, Trio No1 is a competent essay but the step to the cello’s harmonics opening No 2 is to move to another artistic world altogether. These young musicians are wholly inside these scores and their execution is exemplary. Recordings were made in the modern deSingel complex near Antwerp. CB

Sound Quality: 85%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

A 96kHz rendering is typically unnecessary to capture the ~12kHz range of solo piano but coupled with a cello (or violin) in these duets, the string harmonics clearly sail out over the full available bandwidth of ~45kHz. PM