Trio Bohémo has recorded the first modern recording of Reicha’s piano trios

Anton Reicha (February 27, 1770, Prague – May 28, 1836, Paris), a native of Prague and a close friend of Beethoven, ranks among the most progressive musical thinkers of his generation. He combined late Classicism with nascent Romanticism, working with unexpected harmonic shifts, rhythmic experiments, and a distinctive sense of humor, and became an influential teacher at the Paris Conservatory. His students included Berlioz, Gounod, and Franck, among others. Nevertheless, many of his compositions had to wait until the 21st century to be truly appreciated – including the six piano trios, Op. 101, published in 1824, which have only now received their first complete modern recording.

The performance was undertaken by Trio Bohémo (Matouš Pěruška – violin, Kristina Vocetková – cello, Jan Vojtek – piano), one of the most distinctive European chamber ensembles of today. The trio has won numerous prestigious awards, performed on world-class stages such as the Musikverein in Vienna and London’s Wigmore Hall, and received enthusiastic international acclaim for its 2024 debut album. For the recording of Reicha’s work, the ensemble reunited with producer Andrew Keener and sound engineer Oscar Torres, whose collaboration they had already tested during their first project for Supraphon.

Cellist Kristina Vocetková says of Anton Reicha’s music: “After months of intensive engagement with Reicha’s music, we would describe his musical language as a distinctive combination of late Classicism and early Romanticism, enriched with a great deal of joy and energy. It is characterized by original harmonic progressions and surprising expressive twists.” It is precisely this combination of freshness, ingenuity, and technical sophistication that makes Reicha’s trio works a unique body of music that strikes a surprisingly modern chord today.

The double album Anton Reicha – The Complete Piano Trios, performed by Trio Bohémo, offers the first complete recording of this repertoire in the modern era and presents listeners with an energetic, meticulously crafted, and interpretatively exceptionally mature perspective on the work of a composer whose thinking and musical language significantly transcended the boundaries of his time.