Because it won the seventh Premio Trio di Trieste competition in 2002 -- the competition for chamber music ensembles that, "because of their mentality and taste, follow the chamber music criteria" of Italy's celebrated Trio di Trieste -- the
Tal Trio of Tel-Aviv got to make these recordings of piano trios by Beethoven and Schubert. Whether the
Tal Trio actually does demonstrate the mentality and taste to follow the Trio di Trieste blindly is another issue. Where the Trio di Trieste's Beethoven is sublimely majestic and the Schubert is supremely lyrical, the
Tal Trio's Beethoven is brashly aggressive and the Schubert is extremely expressive. This is not at all a bad thing. Although it sounds very different, the
Tal Trio's brusque Beethoven sounds just as much like Beethoven as the Trio di Trieste's noble Beethoven and the
Tal Trio's emotional Schubert sounds just as much like the Trio di Trieste's elevated Schubert. Indeed, for all the polished emotions of the Trio di Trieste's performances, it is hard not to enjoy the passionate emotions of the
Tal Trio's performances. Real Sound's recorded sound may not be quite real, but it is very, very close.