It's a bit of a shame that the instruments used in this historically oriented album are apparently not specified anywhere, for they are among the attractions of the release, recorded in February of 2020 but not released until the summer of 2022. All of the works are from the 1780s, where a fortepiano is definitely called for, and the instrument played by sounds as though it is from that period. It is an exceptionally lively, clean instrument. The top lines in these piano trios are divided between flute (which offered as an option for some of them) and violin, and 's flute is another exceptionally attractive instrument, warm and with a strong human breath presence without being wispy. Cellist and violinist are both veterans of the French historical-performance scene, but there is nothing of the stiff Baroque manner one sometimes hears in performances of Classical-era music by Baroque specialists; the playing is lively, and 's humor is intact. Best of all is the clarity of the performances. Consider the slow movement of the , a masterwork of registral and motivic detail. That clarity is diminished a bit by the overlarge acoustic of the Theatre elisabethain d'Hardelot, but in general, this is a fine chamber music release that gives the lie to the idea that his trios, even if he sometimes called them "piano sonatas," are piano works merely ornamented by the other instruments. ~ James Manheim