Antonin Dvorak Piano Trios Op. 21 & 26

After their three recordings dedicated to Dvorák's 'Piano Trios No. 3' and 'No. 4 (the 'Dumky')', as well as his 'First' and 'Second Piano Quartets', the 'Piano Quintets' and the 'Bagatelles', Omri Epstein, Mathieu van Bellen and Ori Epstein conclude their complete cycle of the Czech composer's chamber music with piano with his first two piano trios: the bond of sympathy between the artists becomes evident as they communicate both their passion for this repertoire and their pleasure in making music together. The 'Trio in B-Flat Major' - the first that has survived - was composed in the spring of 1875, during a period when Dvo?ák was conceiving and consolidating a more conventional sense of musical form and style. The works of this remarkably prolific year show a distinct crystallisation of Dvo?ák's mature melodic style. When the composer began work on his 'Trio in G Minor', in January 1876, he was exhausted after the completion of his opera 'Vanda', and overcome with grief for the death of his daughter Josefa. He would certainly have known how, back in 1855, his elder colleague Smetana had turned to the genre of the piano trio in similar circumstances, to express his sorrow at the death of his own daughter. This recording completes this four part edition of Dvo?ák's piano trios, quartets and quintets.