Brahms composed his second of three piano trios between March 1880 and June 1882 with the help of feedback from Clara Schumann. The work's premiere was held several months later in December, with Brahms himself at the piano accompanied by members of the Joachim Quartet and attended by Clara, who admired the work's fluidity and elegance. The generally self-critical Brahms wrote to his publisher that they had "not yet had such a beautiful trio from me and very likely have not published its equal in the last ten years."

With the same grace and poise that Clara Schumann must have appreciated, Elena Bashkirova joins Maxim Vengerov and Boris Pergamenschikow in a captivating rendition of this mid-career masterpiece, taking us back to that evening in December 1882.