The three Bekova Sisters have already given us the First Piano Trio of 1930, coupling it with the Ravel (Chandos, 6/96), which LS praised. The two piano trios recorded here come from Martinu’s American years. No. 2 in D minor was composed in 1950 for the opening of the Haydn Library at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and No. 3 in C major followed a year later, written for the composer, Leopold Mannes, whose piano trio gave its premiere in New York early in 1952. The Four Nocturnes for cello and piano, subtitled Quatre etudes, are much earlier – from the same year as the First Piano Trio – and are full of interest, while the Czech Rhapsody was composed for Kreisler, no less, in the heady days following the end of the war, in the same year as the Fourth Symphony.
Neither of the trios is at present available in alternative versions so the Bekova Sisters have the field to themselves. Older collectors will recall a lively recording of the Third by the Foerster Trio coupled with the Bergerettes, also for piano trio (Supraphon, 9/67 – nla), which I recall as having great lightness of touch and sparkle. Nor is the Czech Rhapsody otherwise available and if none of these pieces is what one might call top-drawer Martinu, the Czech Rhapsody is really rather a beautiful piece, and Elvira Bekova performs it with much sensitivity and feeling. The playing throughout has spirit and dedication, and the recording, made in The Maltings, Snape, is in the best Chandos tradition.'