Melnikov works wonders with his 1828 Graff piano, managing to make it less clattery and more piano-like than in most other fortepiano recordings.

The first thing you notice here is the timbre of the fortepiano, lightening the overall texture: in Melnikov’s hands it sometimes sounds like a gypsy dulcimer...The “Archduke” receives a delightfully intimate performance: the voicing of each instrument comes across with equal clarity, and the great Andante cantabile casts its spell afresh.

A cellist who tends towards introversion; a fortepianist who tends the other way. Put them together and something magical happens within the tensions they engender.

a captivating performance … recorded in very clear, natural sound … This terrific new Harmonia Mundi disc can be recommended unreservedly.

this new recording joins the others at the top of the tree and is worth buying even if you have one of them because of its unique selling point - the employment of a fortepiano.

This ensemble is something of an A team. All play period instruments on this alluring disc, making for some ravishing textures

Melnikov plays a restored fortepiano here...and it blends perfectly with Isabelle Faust's wonderfully attentive, selfless violin playing, and Jean-Guihen Queyras's inquiringly musical cello..these three players pitch [the Archduke] perfectly, always listening to each other and giving the textures a buoyancy and transparency that bring something fresh to every bar. Fascinating.

The playing throughout the trio is thoroughly attuned to the tone and emotional scope of the music, profoundly rapt in the andante and perkily whimsical, explosive and propulsive in the gloriously idiosyncratic finale.

You might not think that a recording of two Beethoven piano trios could be all that newsy. But this one is exceptional. Three insightful and accomplished artists...give fresh, lithe and sensitive performances