Trio Con Brio launched their Beethoven piano trio cycle earlier this year with a pairing of the Op 1 No 1 and Ghost Trios plus the Kakadu Variations whose exuberance and clarity more than exemplified the qualities of ‘verve and poise’ that Hannah Nepil, reviewing their Tchaikovsky in these pages in 2016, found in this excellent Copenhagen-based trio. Now comes the ‘difficult second album’ of any complete cycle, and by pairing the Ghost’s neglected twin Op 70 No 2 with the least-played of the Op 1 set, the G major second, they’ve not given themselves an easy sell.

In fact, it adds up to a thoroughly beguiling programme. Trio Con Brio deliver brisk readings, buoyant with dance rhythms and understated wit (I enjoyed violinist Soo-Jin Hong’s slide back into the recapitulation of the first movement of Op 1 No 2). The ensemble is intimate and properly chamber-sized, and Orchid’s sound captures it well. If there’s slightly too much bloom on the piano, at the expense (as is often the case with piano trios) of Soo-Kyung Hong’s cello tone, it does at least let the delicate, bell-like clarity of pianist Jens Elvekjaer’s right hand really sparkle.

That makes for a piquant contrast with the warm, slightly leisurely approach that Trio Con Brio take to the first three movements of both works. If the poco sostenuto introduction of Op 70 No 2 felt just right in its combination of stasis and latent energy, the Scherzo of Op 1 No 2 is positively languid. But in the finales of both works, all three players really ignite: explosive in Op 70 No 2; crackling with energy and precision in the Haydnesque moto perpetuo that ends Op 1 No 2. Their forthcoming Archduke is going to be well worth a listen.