JOSEF BOHUSLAV FOERSTER (1859-1951): Complete Piano Trios - No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 in B Flat, Op. 38 and No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 105.

Description: A new recording to complement or to replace the old set of 1968 and 1978 recordings on this label by the Foerster Trio (offered as a mid-price reissue in March of 2002 (03D010). Each was written in response to an early death in the composer's family (and was also closely related to the various Foerster symphonies which were also motivated by the same events): No. 1 (1882) is an eloquent, yet gloomily lyrical work inspired by the death of his mother. The death of his younger sister at the age of 26 in 1894 produced the second trio, a multi-layered display of highly stylized, cultured, "poetic" grief, while the death of his only son motivated the third trio (1919-21), more elaborate in its harmony and refined in its polyphony with Foerster's characteristic lyricism alternating between woeful lament and quiet consolation. Janácek Trio.