Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Isang Enders (cello), Wu Qian (piano), Sitkovetsky Trio
BIS · BIS2219 · 60 minutes
Ravel wrote his trio in the summer of 1914 with war closing in around him, and somehow that tension seeps into the music without ever curdling its beauty — there’s a restlessness under all that shimmer. The Sitkovetsky Trio catch this brilliantly, especially in the Pantoum movement, where the two competing rhythmic ideas feel genuinely uneasy rather than just clever. Pairing it with Saint-Saëns’ second trio, all Gallic charm and formal cleverness, gives you the perfect before-and-after snapshot of how French chamber music grew up.
Awards:
- International Classical Music Awards — 2022 — Nominated – Chamber Music
- BBC Music Magazine Awards — 2022 — Winner – Chamber
“It’s ravishingly done by the Sitkovetsky Trio, who more than inhabit the scope of Ravel’s expressive language and ambition in his attempt to expand the form’s musical language.”
— BBC Music Magazine, October 2021,4 out of 5 stars
The Florestan Trio
Hyperion · CDA67538 · 59 minutes
Saint-Saëns gets unfairly filed under “elegant but a bit cool,” and these trios do their best to argue otherwise — especially the sprawling, almost symphonic Second Trio, which keeps finding new emotional corners to explore right up to its finish. The Florestan Trio play it with real conviction rather than just polish, letting the music’s warmth and occasional strangeness come through instead of smoothing everything into good taste. It’s the kind of performance that makes you rethink a composer you thought you already knew.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — May 2006 — Editor’s Choice
- Presto Favourites — Recommended Recording
“Well, the Florestan Trio have done it again – a sure-fire Gramophone Award nominee. Indeed, such is the cumulative emotional impact of these performances that tears welled up during the wonderful…”
— Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
Fidelio Trio
Resonus Classics · RES10173 · 59 minutes
There’s something satisfying about pairing these two trios, since Ravel’s is all shimmer and ambiguity while Saint-Saëns writes with such straightforward Gallic charm — and the Fidelio Trio clearly relishes the contrast between them. Mary Dullea’s piano playing in the Ravel “Pantoum” movement is the real draw here, tossing off those cascading figures with a lightness that never tips into showiness. It’s a program that rewards sitting through in one go, letting the two very different shades of French chamber music talk to each other.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — November 2016 — Editor’s Choice
“The Fidelio Trio’s virtuosity is of a high order, with Mary Dullea throwing off the piano fireworks in the Ravel ‘Pantoum’ with splendid élan”
— BBC Music Magazine, January 2017,4 out of 5 stars
Neave Trio (chamber ensemble)
Chandos · CHAN20337 · 65 minutes
There’s something delightfully audacious about squeezing Debussy’s shimmering, orchestral seascape into a piano trio, and Sally Beamish clearly knew it too — apparently her first reaction to the commission was just to laugh. But the Neave Trio makes the whole thing feel inevitable rather than reduced, finding the surging string writing and rippling piano textures that were basically hiding in the original all along. It’s a fitting, ambitious close to a program that’s really about how French composers heard color, whether they had an orchestra on hand or not.
Awards:
- Grammy Awards — 68th Awards (2026) — Nominated – Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
“Beamish’s arrangement of La mer provides the culmination and the album’s title. Originally commissioned by the Trio Apaches, Beamish’s first response was to laugh. However, her arrangement wisely…”
— BBC Music Magazine, August 2025,4 out of 5 stars
