The outstanding Grieg Trio reflect every musical nuance in their spirited performances of four Piano Trios by Josef Haydn. The composer’s originality is particularly evident in these trios, conceived primarily for musical friends to play together. The sheer distinctiveness and the accomplishment of his writing is readily and inescapably apparent.

The works here recorded show Haydn’s increasing attention to the form at the time of his two historic London visits and afterwards. These visits were crucial not only in widening the composer’s reputation but also in alerting him to the respect and renown his comprehensive mastery could win him in the wider musical world.

While all three trios written in Vienna 1796/97 are for a first-class performer, from the pianist’s point of view, the C major is the most demanding of them. But the E flat major Trio is also a substantial and imaginative work in which the piano is given material that is almost virtuosic in its scope. F sharp minor was an infrequently employed key in the 18th-century: Haydn notably used it for just one of his symphonies, the ‘Farewell’. His Piano Trio Hob XV: 26 once again partakes of the storm and stress associated with the key itself, although on a more domestic scale. The Trio in G major is the best known trio on this disc, mainly on account of its finale, a Rondo all’ Ongarese, generally known as the Gypsy Rondo - a title that is sometimes used for the trio as a whole.

Founded in 1987, the Grieg Trio has achieved widespread international recognition, with performances in most European countries, the United States, Japan and New Zealand. They have recorded works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak, Smetana, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Martin and Bloch for Simax Classics, EMI and Virgin to great critical acclaim.