…the Smetana Trio, excellently recorded, deliver landmark performances of both trios. The developmental intensity of the F minor Trio's first movement has rarely seemed more incandescent or the slow movement more winningly lyrical… it is the Trio's unrivalled feeling of ensemble that generate results unmatched in the catalogue.

Not surprisingly, the performance by the Smetana Trio is thoroughly idiomatic, with the many dumka speed-changes sounding totally natural and spontaneous. What instantly strikes the ear is the delicacy, the piano relatively light to bring out the filigree textures of much of the writing.
They also play with a hushed concentration, keeping the different sections tautly woven together. In the fifth of the six movements, there is a delightful pay-off at the end, and the finale is taken at a thrillingly fast tempo, though light textures bring complete clarity.
In No 3 there is an apt if subtle shift in the recording balance, with the piano weightier, reflecting the Brahmsian quality of much of the writing. Though in the conventional four movements instead of the six of No 4, it is a work on a bigger scale. Not surprisingly, the Czech flavours are brought out strikingly. The Supraphon sound is excellent.

Not surprisingly, the performance by the Smetana Trio - cellist Jan Páleníček is the son of the original Smetana Trio pianist, Josef - is thoroughly idiomatic, with the many dumka speed-changes sounding totally natural and spontaneous. In No. 3 there is an apt if subtle shift in the recording balance, with the piano weightier, reflecting the Brahmsian quality of much of the writing. Not surprisingly, the Czech flavours are brought out more strikingly than with the Florestan Trio. It is also a rather warmer, more passionate reading...