Through his early studies with Josef Polnauer, a member of the Schoenberg circle, Friedrich Cerha is one of the few remaining descendants of the Second Viennese School. However, while this collection of chamber works does indeed, in terms of its motivic-developmental style and use of somewhat unfashionable forms, hearken back to the early 20th century, the composer who most often comes to mind is in fact Bartók.

As with the Hungarian master, Cerha’s chamber music often alternates between lyrical modality and dense chromaticism. In the Five Movements for piano trio (2006 07), Cerha even uses an ‘arch’ form adumbrated in the form and title (‘Parabola’) of the first movement. This piano trio, spritely and elegant, is the meatiest work on the disc and rewards repeated listens. Up until 2005 Cerha had never written a piano trio but his attitude to the instrumental formation softened, he says, when a piece was requested from him to mark the retirement of Bálint András Varga. From that first piano trio we have here the ‘Nachtstück’ (2005), in which slow, lyrical cello and violin lines discourse with delicate piano chords – a night music, again, more Bartók than Mahler.

Aside from these two trios, and despite excellent performances, the disc is disappointing. The Rhapsody for violin and piano (2001), commissioned for the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud competition, is a virtuoso showcase in an atonal idiom whose saltando passagework and double-stopped harmonics amount to little. The Six Inventions for violin and cello (2005 06) are, likewise, for the most part vociferous, their incessantly toiling counterpoint not generating much interest for the listener, apart from the third invention, a supple duo comprised solely of harmonics.