As a medium, the modern piano trio is notoriously tricky to balance. Differences in the instruments’ tonal power as they have developed since Beethoven’s day have made composers fight shy of the form, even Hindemith who wrote masterpieces for every other genre. But it is inaccurate to aver that only Ravel and Shostakovich – in his Second – convincingly essayed the form after 1900: Martinů wrote four times for this combination, plus a concerto, works that blithely ignore the technical issues.

True, Martinů’s grappling with the full “piano trio” genre did not come until 1950 with the D minor Second, with No 3 following a year later, but the marvellous Cinq Pièces brèves, later numbered as Trio No 1, came 20 years before. Why he opted to omit the sparkling Bergerettes (1939) from the sequence is unclear; perhaps it was just too illustrative. The Kinsky Trio catch the spirit of both early sets very neatly in performances of great charm and dexterity. In the Bergerettes they even manage to integrate the bold final Moderato – Trio (poco allegretto) more convincingly than did the Puella Trio (4/08) with whom they are otherwise largely on a par (the Puellas coupling Bergerettes with Shostakovich’s adolescent First and Schnittke’s bleak late trio).

The Second and Third Trios are relatively sombre creations for Martinů, in that there are lengthy passages of serious demeanour in their opening spans without the characteristic smile. This breaks through in good time, however, a feature nicely caught in these well executed and enthusiastic performances. Praga’s sound is spot on, the three instruments carefully but naturally balanced as a satisfying ensemble. Warmly recommended.