In the course of their career, the Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world's preeminent piano trios.The Los Angeles Times wrote This is a piano trio that plays with strength and unanimity… big, bold, almost orchestral performances. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, the trio offers one of their career's best recordings, the mesmerizing album The End of Flowers, which features works by the great composers Rebecca Clarke and Maurice Ravel, written at a time when World War I was on everyone's mind.

It's not easy in this eclectic age to juxtapose musical items that have never been in proximity before, but Canada's Gryphon Trio and soprano Patricia O'Callaghan manage to do so on this recording, which proclaims itself unlike any previous chamber music album. Even better than that, it's pretty much unlike any previous crossover album, although it has ancestors in the world of classical cabaret music where O'Callaghan has spent some of her time.

Telemann is said to have transformed traditional trio sonatas as composed and performed in Germany from esoteric music for virtuoso players into a considerably more popular form. I am not sure what "popular" means, but what we have here is music of the highest order, performed by a group of accomplished musicians. Admittedly, the sound of period instruments is not always to everyone's taste (including, at times, mine), but here they work well with the material and the result is on the musical mark.

Within the first few seconds of the first track–the Sonata No. 1 in G major–most listeners will find themselves in surprisingly familiar territory–surprising because this little-known 18th-century composer seems to have written a popular tune long attributed to Pergolesi, a misattribution given additional false credibility by its use in Stravinsky's Pulcinella. In fact Stravinsky used selections from several of Domenico Gallo's trio sonatas in his famous ballet music, thinking them to be works of Pergolesi because they were published under his name in late-19th century English editions.

This double CD set of Schumann’s Complete Works for Piano Trio is a welcome addition to the chamber music catalogue. The trio prove to be fine ensemble giving both stirring and satisfying performances. There is a something very natural about the musicianship on show here.

No matter what your opinion of the composer, these Piano Trios represent two of the most ravishing inspired chamber works ever written. There are moments reminiscent of the panache of Chausson, the melancholy of Schubert, the playfulness of Saint-Saens, and the pathos of Shostakovich yet the trios ultimately maintain an identity uniquely their own. Recorded in 1986, the Beaux Arts Trio (in arguably their most esteemed line-up of Menahem Pressler, Isidore Cohen, and Bernard Greenhouse) as well were in top form and deliver performances that can hardly be bettered. An absolute must for all chamber music fans.

Tchaikovsky's Trio has become more popular of late, with the newest Gramophone Classical Catalogue listing 13 groups whose versions are currently available. This is one to take its place in some very august company, and that in particular offers new insight into the nature and structure of the long, difficult opening movement. Partly, this is achieved through a flexible approach to tempo. The work is dedicated ''To the memory of a great artist'' (Tchaikovsky's mentor Nikolay Rubinstein), and the movement is entitled Pezzo Elegiaco. The players treat it with considerable flexibility of tempo, which works extremely well when their understanding of its unusual structure is so acute.

This recording of chamber works by Ravel performed by Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley may not be the most electrifying, but it has a richness of feeling and movement that draws the listener along for a thoroughly enjoyable ride. The opening of the Piano Trio is delicately ethereal and atmospheric, but then it builds to grand heights. The second movement sways and flows in continuous waves, and the third arcs in a way similar to the first movement.

In 2006, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth plus the 30th anniversary of Anne-Sophie Mutter's public debut, Deutsche Grammophon released new recordings of the German violinist in all the Austrian composer's major works featuring her instrument. To celebrate Mutter's undeniable beauty, each body of works was released with a different photograph of Mutter on the cover: the set of concertos had Mutter poured into a stunning bottle green mermaid gown, the set of sonatas had Mutter wrapped in a shimmering golden yellow strapless gown, and this set of the piano trios has Mutter's wonderfully made-up face and marvelously coifed hair in close-up.

Philipp Scharwenka (1847-1917) gets short shrift next to his more successful brother, Xaver. The two had very dissimilar styles. Philipp, a professor at various conservatories (Otto Klemperer was his pupil) was austere and embraced academic German Romanticism, while Xaver preferred the extroverted salon idiom of Chopin and Liszt. In the opinion of the critic Hugo Leichtentritt “Philipp Scharwenka is an absolute master of composition. His violin and cello sonatas, his string quartets, piano trios and piano quintet belong to the most perfect and tonally beautiful works of their type."

Violinist Joshua Bell reunites with two of his favorite collaborating artists and friends – cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk – for Sony Classical’s new recording of the piano trios of Felix Mendelssohn. The new recording follows a unique all-Brahms collection For the Love of Brahms – released by Sony Classical in 2018 – that was also a collaboration of Bell, Isserlis and Denk.

These chamber works center around the horn as a chamber instrument. The horn contributes an interesting character to the music, especially when there is a piano employed. The String Trio of 1984 is here scored for horn, violin, and piano. The Horn Quartet of 1975 is scored for horn, violin, cello, and piano. The Trio is more representative of Simpson's mature style; it tends more toward a melodic polytonality. His Horn Quartet is more rugged, and the scales are tipped toward atonality. Extremely interesting postmodern works.

The trio on this dics is chamber music performance at its highest level of enjoyment. Listening to the CD, you get an impression of three great friends having a most delightful conversation, elegant and graceful. The recorded sound is first rate. You hear all the details of instruments being played and also the acoustic features of the room in which they performed.

These chamber works center around the horn as a chamber instrument. The horn contributes an interesting character to the music, especially when there is a piano employed. The String Trio of 1984 is here scored for horn, violin, and piano. The Horn Quartet of 1975 is scored for horn, violin, cello, and piano. The Trio is more representative of Simpson's mature style; it tends more toward a melodic polytonality. His Horn Quartet is more rugged, and the scales are tipped toward atonality. Extremely interesting postmodern works.

Ernest and persuasive while it's spinning, the better qualities of this 2006 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio dissipate soon after the disc stops. With pianist Yefim Bronfman, violinist Gil Shaham, and cellist Truls Mørk as partners in the proceedings, the playing itself is first-class. Each is a highly regarded virtuoso, and collectively they form an agile but cogent chamber ensemble. Interpretively, their focus is on expressivity.