CD: Dvorak: Piano Trios nos 1 and 3: Vienna Piano Trio

Dvorak's Dumka Trio, with its unconventional layout, is the most popular of his piano trios, but his earlier works, although more conventional in form, are striking too. Opus 21 in B flat, the first of the four, written at the same period as the Serenade for Strings, starts with an idea that only Dvorak could have written, a melody looking forward to the finale of his American Quartet.

The talented young Vienna Piano Trio bring out to the full the dramatic contrasts of Dvorak's writing. They are not just sharp in attack but raptly bring out the mystery of the slow movement, Adagio Molto e Mesto, with the folk rhythms of the feather-light Scherzo deliciously pointed.

The performance of the F minor Trio, no 3, has similar contrasts of light and shade, with Brahmsian weight given to the piano-writing, and all three players using the widest expressive range.