Is your CD player in good working order these days? You'll need it to be in top shape to play all the excellent recordings coming our way from this label. A new label based in Vienna, with a new recording of a trio from Vienna, playing music composed in Vienna. The odds were with this one right from the start and the outcome is a winner.

The Beethoven piano trios, from first to last, stand as some of the best examples of chamber music ever written. Beethoven must have spent many a sleepless night just pushing the limits of what three different musical lines can be at the same time, while expressing human emotions and maintaining a solid coherence from start to finish, all unified in one powerful musical statement.

Harald Kosik on piano, Verena Stourzh on violin, and Hannes Gradwohl on cello are the members of the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, which was founded in 1992. They have been very busy performing around the world and have released many fine recordings including all 39 piano trios by Haydn. Although still a young trio of musicians, their approach to Beethoven is mature, tight, deeply expressive playing that brings out all the qualities within this music, and even conveys Beethoven's periodical sense of humour. I was recently very impressed by a recording of some of the same music on period instruments, but of all the recordings on modern instruments, and numerous they are, this new one now sits at the top of my list.

The recorded sound is excellent, with a very natural spread of the instruments. The piano is positioned center stage, with the violin to the left and the cello on the right, and a perfect dynamic range that makes it feel like the instruments are in the room.

I myself am looking forward to many more fine recordings from Phoenix Edition, an exciting new label that disproves the idea that classical music is dying.

Jean-Yves Duperron