“It was the songlike melody in the andante, swapped so dreamily between cello and violin, that will linger longest in the memory.”
★★★★★
Stephen Pritchard, The Observer, November 2023; Concert Review of The Sitkovetsky Trio at Bath Mozartfest
Read More“For poetry, colouristic imagination and, not least, an infectious sense of shared enjoyment, these performances can hold their own against any rivals.”
Richard Wigmore, Gramophone, November 2023 (Album Review of Beethoven: Piano Trios Vol. 2)
Read More“The abundance of joy in their playing was clear in both concerts. All three members did not tinker with the fine delicacy of articulation that is a hallmark of their work.”
South China Morning Post (Christopher Halls), November 2019
Read More“The very last notes being delivered with as much edge-of-the-seat importance as the first. This was the real deal.”
–The Australian, 2017
Read More“…a demanding program with excellent fluency and solid collegiality of attack, phrase-shaping and insight.”
–Sydney Morning Herald, 2017
Read More“Deeply rewarding, the recital brimmed with infectious sincerity, wild energy and impressive unity.”
–Limelight Magazine, 2017
Read More“Wu Qian’s playing was full of colour and power – she isn’t afraid to stand out boldly when the music calls for it. I haven’t heard a better performance of this work.”
–Adelaide Now, 2017
Read More“It has all the ‘fire and vivacity, the flow in a word the mastery’ that Ferdinand Hiller described after hearing the premiere in 1840.”
★★★★
–BBC Music Magazine (CD Recording BIS Records: MENDELSSOHN Piano Trios), 2015
Read More“They dispatch the scherzo with great spirit and are particularly compelling in the finale, with a palpable sense of elation at the switch to the major in the closing minutes.”
–Gramophone, 2015
Read More“Secret weapon of the UK based Piano Trio is called Wu Qian. Under the hands of this Chinese pianist the Steinway turns into an X-ray device that displays each and every grain.”
–Volkskrant, 2015
Read More“These are three instrumentalists at the top of their game, who blend well and play with a sense of shared purpose. Tempi, phrasing and dynamics all seem comfortable and right and couldn't be bettered.”
–Music Web International, 2015
Read More“The slow movement is full of long phrases and sweet violin tone, and the finale rounds things off with a fine balance of breadth and playfulness.”
★★★★
–The Guardian, 2015
Read More“The dexterous Sitkovetsky Trio niftily invert Mendelssohn’s two piano trios in this effervescent recording.”
★★★★
–The Independent on Sunday, 2015
Read More“…as I write these concluding words, I am listening to the Sitkovetsky’s playing the scherzo and finale of the first trio, and their thrilling ride is giving me goosebumps.”
–Double Recording of the Month Music Web International, 2015
Read More“The tasteful and elegant drama of the outer movements (of both trios), the elfin dancing Scherzos, the wonderfully rounded Andantes, the whims and fancies, the shimmering, buzzing, uncommonly virtuosic interplay develops its own gravitational pull - and the simultaneous careful treatment of the notes was not about control or "monitoring", but rather added aesthetic value.”
–Klassik Heute, 2015
Read More“This trio is captured in full flight at a Wigmore Hall concert, with scintillating playing with which it is hard to take issue… The players turn in a neat performance of Schubert’s Second Piano Trio, its brilliance streaked by moments of darkness and its formal cohesion contrasted with nicely characterised dances, whether elegant or rustic. There’s no let-up in energy in the finale, which bursts with liveliness. These are fine, crystalline performances of which the audience is audibly – and understandably – appreciative.”
–The Strad (CD Recording Wigmore Live: BRAHMS Piano Trio in C minor Op 101, Schubert Piano Trio in E flat major D929), 2015
Read More