Trio Brillant in C Major for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 211, No. 1
Trio Brillant in A Major for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 211, No. 2
Sonatina for Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 104, No. 1
Sonatina for Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 104, No. 2
Sonatina for Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 104, No. 3

Austrian composer Carl Czerny (1791-1857) is mostly remembered today because of the very large number of piano solo exercises and studies that many a piano student had to toil away at in order to advance technique. So depending on your inclination for the instrument, you either admired or despised the man. His famous teacher was Beethoven, and his famous student was Franz Liszt. In his day he was highly respected as a pianist. He performed a Mozart Piano Concerto during his first public appearance, and later on gave the world première of Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, and eventually the Vienna première of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5. He composed symphonies, concertos, masses, choral music, and chamber music, but some of it still remains unpublished or unperformed.

Oddly enough, the works on this new Naxos CD, which by the way are all world première recordings, remind me more of Mozart and early Schubert than Beethoven. There's a gracefulness, elegance, and fluidity of movement to all of them, and no sign of Beethoven's taciturn influence anywhere. And because Czerny himself was a pianist and piano teacher, they are very much pianocentric. The musicians on this recording, Sun-Young Shin violin, Benjamin Hayek cello, and Samuel Gingher piano, reflect the style of the music with buoyant and animated playing. And despite the piano part leading the way at every turn, the ensemble playing is close and tight, with no one lacking in detail. Of course, since this is a première recording, there's no other interpretation to compare it to, but until there is this could be considered the best one out there.