Trio Italiano d'Archi
"Beethoven: String Trio op. 3" (Vinyl)

This Deutsche Grammophon box set includes all five string trios that Beethoven wrote.

The string trio never has really received composers' careful attention like the string quartet has.  There are some obvious shortcomings with this ensemble, but it has made the output by composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert particularly valuable to those musicians who choose this vehicle.

Beethoven's first string quartets are op. 18 - this trio, op. 3, dates much earlier in his compositional life.  While there's debate as to how seriously the work should be taken, (the liner notes with this album call the work merely "transitional,") its value to the oeuvre is high as one of few high-profile works written for the string trio.