On this album, the much-loved Altenberg Trio Wien presents five of these masterpieces and prove yet again that Haydn should never be underestimated. Charles Rosen wrote that Joseph Haydn's late piano trios could sit alongside those of Mozart when their subtlety, depth of expression and virtuosity are considered: "the most brilliant piano works before Beethoven". Many of Haydn's piano trios are still "accompanied sonatas", the violin and cello spend much time doubling the right or left hand of the piano.

This was potentially the reason for the increase in popularity of this style of chamber music. Here well-educated daughters could make huge impression on the expensive fortepianos bought by their fathers, while their brothers, fathers, servants or employed musicians of the court band played the easier string parts. The all-female dedicatees of Haydn's piano trios are perhaps another key to understanding the expressive diversity we encounter in these works.

The Altenberg Trio was founded in 1984, and as Trio in Residence of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, it has been an essential fixture of Viennese cultural life for almost 40 years. There are few chamber music ensembles worldwide that pass on tradition through generations.

The three musicians of the current ensemble are active solo performers. Ziyu He was one of the youngest soloists with the Vienna Philharmonic, Christopher Hinterhuber is a professor at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and Christoph Stradner is principal cellist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the cycle at the Vienna Musikverein, a busy international touring schedule is an integral part of the Altenberg Trio's schedule, with concerts at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Bregenz Festival, the Georges Enescu Festival in Bucharest, appearances at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice and at the Library of Congress in Washington, to mention a few.