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Camille St.-Saëns is one of those composers everyone knows and hardly anyone knows really well. Much of his output is satisfying and worth hearing, but these days we get mostly "Carnival of the Animals" and a tone poem or two. These Trios, from very different periods of the composer's career, are both substantial pieces. The first is full of youthful exuberance, while the second is more somber, almost tragic at times. (It begins with music that sounds like the opening of Tchaikovsky's Trio, which St.-Saëns may well have known.) Romantic in content and classical in form, both of these pieces reward repeated hearings. The experienced French ensemble Trio Wanderer gives lean, sleek performances of both works, which contrast markedly with the more meaty sound and interpretations of the English
Joachim Trio. Both approaches work very well, although Trio Wanderer may be closer to the composer's own style. If you try either disc and respond well to the music, you may want the other to enhance your appreciation of this fine music.
--Leslie Gerber
