“[…] Beautiful, talented, well known. And inspired. LG, violin, CR, cello, LM, piano. Also known as Estrio. The name plays with resonances and associations, in a texture of echoes and harmonies. The three musicians do have quite a lot of creative inspiration. That adds on to a technique without flaws, a blend of three different ways of interpreting the musical discourse and a beauty of sound which is truly uncommon.
LG's violin, CR's cello and even LM's piano have a unique timbre.- still, these three personalities combine to create a seamless sound flow and an expressive ability which allows the three to approach even a monothematic programme based on 20th century music.
With a degree of irony, the title programme for the Società del Quartetto, which also coincided with Women's Day, was reminiscent of the novel by Francois Sagan’s, "Aimez-vous Brahms?". So let's replace peaceful Johannes with one of the most elegant and sophisticated composers from that century, and what you get is a rendez-vous with French composer Maurice Ravel. "Aimez -vous Ravel?". To the delight of the audience that fills the Sala Grande of the Teatro Comunale, Estrio offers a Ravel charged with tension, exuberance, "joie de vivre", happiness and passion.
There's a perfect understanding between the musicians, even when LG's violin tunes to LM's piano, in the famous Sonata in G major.
Finally, the Trio in A minor, where piano, cello and violin acquire elegance, softness, gentleness and an exquisite sound, all born of feminine sensibility. Between brio and fire, an unrestrained delight - just like the warm applause, greeted by an encore from Germaine Tailleferre."
Eva Purelli - Il Giornale di Vicenza 3/13/2012
“[…] The three Graces sung in Greek-Latin mythology descended last night from Mount Olympus, and met us mortals in Vercelli, disguised as the three musicians that founded Estrio in 2005: Laura Gorna (violin), Cecilia Radic (cello), Laura Manzini (piano). The gift they brought to women and men was their rendition of Beethoven's Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano, op. 56 in C Major, accompanied by the Camerata Ducale conducted by Guido Rimonda. Estrio's interpretation was memorable from every point of view. Technically impeccable and perfectly harmonious the three musicians gave life o a wise intertwining of their instruments' voices, where the strength of Gorna's Maggini violin and the warm, intese fluidity of Radic's Bernardel cello never overshadowed the full and exact sound of the piano. What we regard as the expressive peak was reached in the central Largo, with the opening theme beautifully played by the cello, fully capable of bringing to life the enchanting sweetness of the foundational A flat and unveiling the entire movement in a dreamlike atmosphere full of intimate lyricism. Upon faring goodbye to the audience, Estrio offered a beautiful encore, the third movement of Clara Wieck Schumann's Trio, full of pulsating gentleness and melanchonically arresting (why does this get performed so rarely?), which brought the many attendees to break into a long, grateful applause […]”
Bruno Brusca - Corrierebit 2/26/2012
“[…] her (Germaine Tailleferre, ed.) trio appeared in all its brilliance, thanks to the impeccable performance of Estrio (Ravel, Chausson). All the pieces performed were stylistically flawless, sincere and in complete and fruitful unison of the performers. Enthusiastic audience […]”
Nicola Sbisà - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno 3/24/2011
“[…] .Estrio proposes a meandering path between his and her compositions. This is the birth of the theatre-concert hosted by the Radio Tre event I Concerti del Quirinale. Assigned to the capable hands of performers who succeed in convincing and enthralling […]”
Sandro Cappelletto - La Repubblica, 2/3/2011
“[…] affectionate violinist Laura Gorna, moving cellist Cecilia Radic and wise pianist Laura Manzini are technically perfect musicians and artists able to ruffle and soothe. They play under the name of Estrio. Their performance of the third movement of Clara Schumann’s trio reached an unforgettable tenderness, at once vibrant and self-possessed.”
L. Arruga - Il Giornale 9/11/2007
“[…] Estrio has brought to live the pearl of the German composer’s chamber music catalogue, the trio in D minor, Op.49 (by F.Mendelssohn, ed.), the cello theme sketched by Radic in the first movement was delightful, not to speak of that enounced by the piano in the magnificent Andante […] A truly passionate final. […]"
Roberto Codazzi - Il Giornale di Cremona 3/13/2009
“[…] each instrument (in the trio Op.67 by Shostakovich, ed.) stands out and asserts itself with authority while maintaining a harmonious and virtuosic complexity – skills excelled in by the brilliant and intense violin of Gorna, a passionate and spirited cello (Radic is also from the East and expertly grasps certain typical ‘moods’) and a piano with great fullness of sound, intense without exaggeration and extremely fluid. The expressiveness of the three performers also expertly involved the entire audience, which rewarded them generously with enthusiastic applause.”
Eva Purelli - Il Giornale di Vicenza 10/20/2007
“Subtly disquieting in the elusive trio number two by Shostakovich, with its lyrical oases, pizzicato notes, and innumerable different sounds of the piano, where, nevertheless, the confusion of the universe is recapitulated in musical gestures that make it vital in an unleased will, passionately sweet in the moving trio number two by Schumann, in which, however, romantic beauty appears in an endless unrealisable dream, the girls of Estrio, Laura Gorna, violin, Cecilia Radic, cello,and Laura Manzini, piano, are the authors of an excellent and extremely intense album.
Solidity and imagination, culture and instinct in the beauty of sound, or, rather, sound in its various forms of beauty, which the recording conveys in all its richness and presence."
Lorenzo Arruga - Il Giornale 2008
"[…] In the last of the three concerts, we got acquainted with the excellent Estrio…In their performance of the Trio op.80, they perfectly caught the spirit and sound of Schumann: the improvisative thrust and the lyrical bliss follow each other with great ease: the two string instruments sing just the way they should and the piano accompanies them with a full, smooth and shaded sound. Such combination acquires the required atmosphere for the poetry of this romantic world to burst out. Bravo, therefore: applause was well deserved […]"
Paolo Gallarati - Torino, La Stampa 6/3/2006
“[…] these are the girls of Estrio, a happy combination of temperament, imagination and indestructible technique.”
Anna Franini - Il Giornale, 9/6/2010
“[…] The Young extraordinary trio showed a wonderful technique and perfect harmony from the very beginning […] Gorna, Radic and Manzini are musicians of great personality […] The result is emotionally moving […]”
Alberto Rochira, Il Piccolo 2/19/2007
“[…] Estrio is emotion, power and techinque. The most striking aspect of their musicianship is the perfection of their playing together. Each musician of the trio has a well defined stylistic profile […]”
Daniela Bonitatibus - Il Gazzettino 2/19/2007
“[…] Estrio displays a powerful and intense sound which moment by moment suits Ravel’s poetics. The audience was ravished by their interpretation and at the end bursted into an enthusiastic applause […]”
Sergio Zolli - Messaggero Veneto 2/20/2007
“[…] Poetry is feminine, art is feminine, music, above all, is feminine. Estrio proved it last night at the Ponchielli Theatre […] a winning mix that has won the public’s favour. Mathematics, as is known, is an exact science: if you combine one of Accardo’s best pupils, one of Filippini’s favourites, one of Canino’s disciplines the result can only be thrilling […]”
Roberto Codazzi - La Provincia, Cremona 1/31/2007
“[…] Pages that the particularly balanced and intense structure that these extraordinary musicians have offered throughout a fascinating, careful and compelling interpretation (the warm applauses throughout the performance were very well earned) […]”
Eleonora Olivi - La Cronaca di Cremona 1/31/2007
“[…] put Laura Gorna’s violin, Cecilia Radic’s cello and Laura Manzini’s piano at the center of the Cathedral and just abandon yourself to the vital energy of their hands. Finally, start looking at the Romanic stone poetry around you. Whatever they play – be it the very difficult sublimity of Shostakovich or Piazzolla’s soft sensuality, the jazzy class of Chick Corea or the dionisiac synesthethics of Ravel - these three extraordinary musicians, like three Circe enchantresses, transform us and lead us into heaven-like atmospheres, although at the same time very earthly, physical, mediterranenan, alive and vital […]”
Corriere Adriatico, 7/14/2005
“[…] Curtain calls and applause for the protagonists only […] audience literally in raptures over the performance of the chamber music group […]”
Caterina Lucchetti - Il Messaggero
Press
May 5th, L'Aquila, Italy - Estrio and Sonia Bergamasco celebrate Clara Schumann - Music by Clara and Robert Schumann - info
