Since its inception the piano has played a major role in the history and development of chamber music. Because it can attain a near–orchestral volume of sound and complexity and yet be played with the precision and intimacy of a single line instrument, it is an instrument perfectly suited to the compositions presented on this album.

What better place to start than with the music of Beethoven, a composer who was involved with the earliest designs of the pianoforte? His Piano Trio in B flat major, op.11, is a delightful way to explore the combination of instruments with the piano. Trio d’Argento then performs the two French works on the disc — Saint–Saëns’s spirited Tarantella and the Deux Interludes by Jacques Ibert. These two works have become a staple of the core repertoire for piano trio — flute, clarinet and piano.

Finishing this chamber music excursion is a work of majestic proportions, the Quintet for Piano and Winds, op.79, by Nicolai Rimsky–Korsakov, whose early years included self–immersion in learning about orchestration. With piano as the central player along with state–of–the–art modern instruments, the works collected here spring to life!