These are in many ways intelligent and sympathetic performances, at their strongest in making the most of the opening movements and finales. In the first movement of the C minor Trio, for instance, what Philip Radcliffe calls ''Mendelssohn's contented amble'' is given a considerable degree of strength, though not artificially so beyond what it can really sustain. However, the same kind of energy can become rather strenuous, in some places in the finales and also in the beautiful Andante of the D minor Trio. The Andante marking is tempered with con moto tranquillo, and the piece is in the manner familiar from the sometimes more sentimental Songs without words: here it is played with a note of passion that hardly suits its calm, relaxed manner, the phrases sometimes leant upon or taken in short breaths where a longer, cooler line would be simply effective.
The recording is rather thick, and this comes to be serious in both opening movements and especially in the scherzos, where the pianist's hurtling fingerwork (which does not sound always ideally in control) is not given any benefit. It is good to have these two most attractive works newly available on record (the D minor Trio has always been one of Mendelssohn's most popular pieces of chamber music); but it cannot be said that these are strongly recommendable versions.'