Is it just me, or are piano trios getting younger? The Hamlet Trio, whose Mendelssohn I reviewed a few months back (Channel Classics, 12/15), was a mere four years old at the time of recording; the Fournier is just a year older. Mind you, these are works that respond tremendously well to youthful élan, as witness the fabulous Fischer/Müller-Schott/Gilad interpretations, of which I never tire.

The Fournier have garnered a number of accolades and it’s not difficult to hear why, for this is playing with a high level of finish to it. Even the scherzos have not a hair out of place. They reveal, above all, the elegance of Mendelssohn’s writing – just sample the ardent duetting between violin and cello in the recapitulation of the first movement of the D minor No 1, or the piano’s gentle introduction to the same work’s Andante. Yet turn to the Florestan in the latter passage and you’ll discover how much more Susan Tomes draws out of the music.

In terms of energy, I find the Fournier a touch too laid-back. Nowhere is there a sense of edginess, of playing with fire, that you find, for instance, in the C minor No 2’s Scherzo in the hands of Fischer et al. And the opening movement of the same trio is rather blithe, rather than the troubled soul that others reveal more tellingly.

In the end, this seems a rather one-dimensional view of Mendelssohn, restricting him to the salon rather than giving voice to his wilder side. But if you like your Mendelssohn trios finely honed, this may do it for you.