"Shostakovich: Piano Trio no. 2 op. 67" (Vinyl)
Shostakovich's works for chamber ensemble (whatever they may be) are always very personal in nature. The string quartet was one of his favorite mediums for conveying his responses to life as he encountered it.
This piano trio (1944) is a particularly haunting work that completes an orbit through all of Shostakovich's recipes, from stark, austere melodies to rhythmic, bounding joyousness. In the final movement he uses a melody that he would recycle in his famous eighth string quartet (1960) and use to great effect.
The musicians on this ABC Westminster/Melodiya album are a mystery to me - it is very uncommon to have a recording made by anyone not billed as an established ensemble. The fact that all three musicians are billed individually on both front and back of the LP jacket is something I've never seen before. There's virtually nothing about them online.
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