The London Fortepiano Trio - Mozart: Piano Trios KV 254 & 548 (1985)

Piano Trio in C (K.548) is one of the last two Piano Trios Mozart wrote, dating from 1788. Along with the last one in G (K.564), (recorded on another CD by London Fortepiano Trio) they are not at the level of the previous 3 Piano Trios. K.548 recorded here does not have the thematic richness or inventive vitality of the three great Piano Trios, but it is however played here with a moving and cantabile quality. The 3 Hyperion CD's of the Mozart Piano Trios by the no longer extant London Fortepiano Trio of which this CD comes are all great interpretations especially disc 1. The Divertimento in B-flat (K.254) of August 1776 is the earliest of the Trios and because of the rather inconspicious role of the violincello it is almost like a sonata for piano and violin. Here as in many of Haydn's Piano Trios the violincello seems merely to reinforce the bass part of the piano. Although the level of the 2 works recorded here is not at the level of Mozart's three great Piano Trios they are here recorded in remarkable interpretations.