Carl Maria von Weber & Joseph Haydn Trios for Flute, Cello & Piano

"Although these 12 chamber movements might be said to make good bedfellows on one cd there is a lot more to it than that. Music for the combination of flute, cello and piano is not evidently in abundance in the repertoire but here Nimbus has captured works by two somewhat contrasting composers and all written within the space of thirty years. The four-movement trio by Weber dates from 1819 when the composer was 33 and only six years before his untimely death at only 39. He was a highly regarded opera composer, conductor and virtuoso pianist and created a renewed interest in German opera. Well regarded for his writing for the clarinet of Heinrich Baermann, he wrote few chamber works and almost nothing for the flute other than this piece. In contrast the remainder of the disc features three trios by Haydn, surely master of everything (and there is a lot!) he undertook during a lifetime almost twice as long as Weber's. These 1790 trios, grouped together as Hoboken XV 15 to 17 were written at the request of an English publisher, though the composer subsequently sold them also to his own Viennese publisher. They ably demonstrate the highest quality of Haydn's abiding workmanship and all the works here receive cracking performances by the artists concerned."- Arthur Francis