Gramophone Reviews The London Bridge Trio’s The Leipzig Circle, Vol. 1
“It’s an attractive idea: a programme of chamber music by four mutual friends, Robert and Clara Schumann and Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Two D minor piano trios anchor the programme – by Fanny and Robert – while salon pieces by Felix and Clara fill out the running time very appealingly, as well as providing brief solo showcases for the London Bridge Trio’s violinist David Adams and cellist Kate Gould.
—Richard Bratby, Gramophone Magazine
Everything here is played with sensitivity and conviction. The three players summon up the whirlwind that opens Fanny’s Trio in fine style, and the energy never flags, with a lilting, lifting rhythmic alertness in the two inner movements and a real sense of the mood shifting Sturm und Drang that drives Robert’s Trio. The gradual withdrawal from nervy melancholy to deep inwardness in Robert’s slow movement is impressively managed – inniger Empfindung indeed. And there’s an unforced naturalness – a lack of affectation – about these readings that many will enjoy: a tonal and expressive sweetness without getting sticky that feels just right in Clara’s Romances and Felix’s lollipop of an Op 109. … there’s a lot here to enjoy.”
See the full review in the October 2019 issue of Gramophone