Trio Bohémo on their debut recording of Smetana and Schubert

One of the most impressive debuts for a long time - the Trio Bohémo wowed not just the Presto Awards committee, but critics right across the board with their first recording, juxtaposing trios by Smetana and Schubert. We loved it, The Guardian found it 'utterly convincing', BBC Music Magazine awarded it five stars out of five, The ever-alert Robert Hugill interviewed them back in October; the list goes on.

The trio (pianist Jan Vojtek, violinist Matouš Peruška and cellist Kristina Vocetková) explain that the parallels between these works go far deeper than just coming from composers of similar ages - here's what they had to say...

You formed the trio in 2019 – how did this come about? Had you played together elsewhere before that?

M: In 2019 I had been playing with Kristina for 7 years already. In the beginning it was as part of a string quartet, but eventually we became a violin-cello duo. Coincidentally, Kristina got to perform together with Jan at a festival in Portugal and they immediately ‘clicked’. Some months later, by another course of events I got to play with Jan during a concert in Budapest and not so surprisingly we shared natural understanding in music too. Therefore, it was inevitable to try playing as a piano trio. From the first rehearsal it was very clear, that this is something we must pursue, and we have never looked back since.

What led you to put Smetana and Schubert together on your début recording?

K: Smetana was our clear choice right from the beginning. We felt an instant connection with the piece and an urge to imprint our interpretation on a CD. Our way to Schubert was not so straight forward and it was a joint decision by us and our label Supraphon. Everybody involved felt the necessity of pairing Smetana with a trio that is a crown piece of the repertoire. We felt it would clearly state how much we value the Smetana’s trio as it is often not perceived as one of the most popular ones. We could hardly find a more glorious piece than Schubert’s E-flat Piano Trio.

The young Smetana notes in his diary a bold ambition to be ‘a Liszt in technique and a Mozart as a composer’ – do you find Mozartian elements in his music?

J: I think he somewhat succeeded with both ambitions in his piano trio. The structure of the first and second movement is not very far from the classical forms of Mozart’s compositions, while the demands on the piano technique are often getting close to Liszt’s technique. Smetana is very demanding on pianists in all his repertoire, so the admiration of Liszt can be sensed through his entire work for piano.

Those sudden hammer-blows from the piano early in the final movement of the Smetana trio are very striking. The trio more broadly has a very personal and tragic story – is this a direct depiction of the sudden shock of his daughter’s death?

M: The deep personal story behind the trio is what makes the piece so captivating. All the elements of the tragedy are somewhat easy to relate to – the almost unbearable emotional pain combined with all the heavenly reminiscences of his daughter, weak heartbeat before the hammer-blows in the piano, the remorseless funeral march with the sudden eruption into light and hope. The trio was inspired by an event so deeply human with all its ups and downs, we find it impossible not to connect with it over and over again.

When the album was first released, Matouš alluded to the Schubert trio shedding fresh light on the Smetana – what do you think the connections are between these two trios?

K: In our perception both Schubert and Smetana are delivering a testimony of life and life’s experiences. Both trios have elements of hope and tragedy. Smetana is leaning to the tragic side for the most part, but when the sun appears it suddenly shines very brightly. Schubert is quite extraordinary - his piano trio feels like a testimony given by a much older man, who has lived a full long life and who is reminiscing mostly positively with just a slight hint of gloominess here and there. However, when the tragedy abruptly hits it has a power to take one’s breath away. Our late mentor Hatto Beyerle would always mention the importance of balance, just like in the yin-yang symbol. In our perception, much of this can be found in these two piano trios. The tragic story told by Smetana has hope intertwined delicately and on the other hand Schubert, who stays in the light for the most part, but he does not forget to mention the other side of life.

What’s your connection to Aldeburgh (where you recorded this album)?

J: Aldeburgh is a place of a great importance to us. We first came there as part of the Britten Pears Young Artists program back in the 2022 and we immediately felt in love with the spirit of the place. Moreover, in Aldeburgh we experienced two meetings, that showed to be life-changing for us in the long run. We met Gwenneth Bransby-Zachary from the Parkhouse Award, who has become one of our closest friends and we had a chance to get to know and work with Robert Cohen. That significantly shaped the way we perform and think about music. We do have many stories connected to Aldeburgh, but just to mention one – when we were leaving Aldeburgh, I forgot to return the key from our accommodation, so it was clear we had to come back. And we did :-)

Can you tell us anything about what your next recording might be? Will you be combining Czech and foreign repertoire again?

K: The next recording will somewhat combine Czech and foreign repertoire, but this time in the work of just one composer. He is considered both – Czech and French. It will be his complete work for a piano trio recorded on a double CD. We are very excited to put in practice all the training we received through our studies at the European Chamber Music Academy with its roots in Vienna. Our hope is to make the work of this composer more popular among the music lovers as - unlike our first CD - it is promised to be much lighter in spirit.