Not every excellent chamber group can land a recording on a major or independent label. Instead, the Serafino Trio, who made its debut in Spain in July, 1999, has taken matters into its own hands. Just weeks before the millennium, the trio made its first recording by burning it onto blank CD-R discs, which can be purchased directly through the trio’s website, www.serafinotrio.com, or also downloaded at www.mp3.com/serafinotrio. The performances are marvelous. The young players bring idiomatic flair and flexibility to 19th-century American composer Arthur Foote’s C minor Trio. Admittedly, this derivative work is not as strong as Foote’s mature B-flat major Trio, yet its guileless melodic appeal will attract chamber music mavens who relish offbeat repertoire. By contrast, Shostakovich’s lean, individual style permeates every bar of his E minor Trio, and the Serafinos invest the music’s dry-martini irony with biting incision and finely honed ensemble values. Too bad the engineering is constricted and airless. Still, now is the time for all good users to log on and support their local Internet piano trio.
