Brahms - Piano Trios Nos. 1, 2 & 3; Piano Quartets Nos. 1, 2 & 3 - Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, Eugene Istomin, Emanuel Ax, Leonard Rose, Yo-Yo Ma / Isaac Stern A Life In Music / Sony Classical 3x Audio CD 1995 / SM3K 64 520

UPC 5099706452027

The Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8, by Johannes Brahms was completed in January 1854, when the composer was only twenty years old, published in November 1854 and premiered on 13 October 1855 in Danzig. It has often been mistakenly claimed that the first performance had taken place in the United States. Brahms produced a revised version of the work in summer 1889 that shows significant alterations so that it may even be regarded as a distinct (fourth) piano trio. This "New Edition" (Neue Ausgabe), as he called it, was premiered on 10 January 1890 in Budapest and published in February 1891.

The trio is scored for piano, violin and cello, and it is the only work of Brahms to exist today in two published versions, although it is almost always the revised version that is performed today. The work is homotonal, with two movements in the key of B major and two in B minor. It is also among the few multimovement works to begin in a major key and end in the tonic minor (another example being Felix Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony).

The Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87, by Johannes Brahms was composed between 1880 and 1882. It is scored for piano, violin and cello.

In early 1880 Brahms began work on two new piano trios, one in C major, the other in E♭ major. By June he had completed an Allegro movement for each of them, and showed these to Clara Schumann who offered a preference for the E♭ major piece. However, the two trio movements were set aside while Brahms worked on his second piano concerto and third symphony, and by the time he picked up the trios again two years later, the self-critical Brahms had decided to destroy the E♭ major Allegro and concentrate on the C major trio, completing the remaining three movements in the summer of 1882 while on vacation in the spa town of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria.

The Trio was first performed at a chamber music evening in Frankfurt-on-Main on 29 December 1882 with Brahms' first String Quintet (F major, Op. 88). Both the Trio and String Quintet were published that same month by the firm of Fritz Simrock.

The trio is in four movements:

A typical performance lasts roughly 27 to 30 minutes.

The Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, by Johannes Brahms is scored for piano, violin and cello, and was written in the summer of 1886 while Brahms was on holiday in Hofstetten, Switzerland. It was premiered on 20 December of that year by Brahms, violinist Jenő Hubay, and cellist David Popper.