Schumann’s three piano trios were written over a short, four-year period (1847–1851), with the first two dating from just a few months apart in 1847.

The First Piano Trio is often regarded as the strongest work of the three, and although it was conceived as a pair with the Second Piano Trio, they differ markedly in tone, with the first having a much darker, and more brooding quality in comparison to the sunnier second.

Schumann’s third and final piano trio was written in 1851, soon after the composer and his family had moved to Düsseldorf. Unfortunately it wasn’t a happy move, and Schumann was beginning to experience symptoms of the mental decline that would lead to his committal to a mental hospital in 1854, and his death two years later.

Ilya Gringolts and Peter Laul’s recording of the three Schumann violin sonatas (ONYX4053) was widely praised on its release in 2010.