These are immensely likeable performances, with everything clear and well-balanced, and the expansive, confident style of early Beethoven well conveyed, in playing that matches the music’s brio and sense of forward motion. This Canadian group, indeed, manage to combine technical assurance and polish with a consistently lively, imaginative approach to the text. Jamie Parker’s precise finger-work is far from mechanical – semiquaver passages in the first Trio’s finale, for instance, may whizz past, but they always have a shape and an expressive character. The string players both project their cantabile melodies with a fine sense of line.

The Grieg Trio’s recent issue of the C minor work may make some expressive points more strongly and, in places, convey better the dark romantic mood, but their performance lacks the sweep of the Gryphon’s, and, in the last movement, seems very easy-going for Prestissimo – the Gryphon version, though not excessively fast, maintains an authentic feeling of urgency. The Grieg also omits some important repeats, whereas the Gryphon gives us both trios complete.

In the Andante of No 3, the Gryphon winningly characterise each variation, the minore truly solemn, with long-breathed phrases on violin and cello, the final variation swift and light, making a brilliant contrast. There’s a sense of lightness and elegance throughout, reminding us that this is still 18th-century music; even in the C minor trio Beethoven’s natural brusqueness is tempered by the requirements of polite society. The CD isn’t advertised as Volume 1 of a set, but I hope the Gryphon will record more Beethoven.