All the works for piano trio gathered here were written between 1883-86, prior to Sibelius’s composition studies under Martin Wegelius at the Helsinki Music Institute (now Sibelius Academy). The influences are loud and healthy – Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn – andthere’s at least one intriguing glimpse of the mature composer: the tail-end of the second subject of the 1883 Menuetto in F for two violins and piano bears a family resemblance to the innocuous bassoon melody that launches the central tableau from the first set of Scènes historiques.

In his youth Sibelius held an ambition to be a virtuoso violinist, and, as pianist and annotator Folke Gräsbeck observes, perhaps the most agreeable feature of the 1883 Trio, JS205, for two violins and piano (in all likelihood Sibelius’s earliest multi-movement composition) resides in its skilful writing for that instrument. Although its title indicates G major, the work boasts an unpredictable key plan, starting in A minor and both outer movements ending in D minor! The chirpy finale takes its cue from the polska, Finland’s oldest folk dance. Elsewhere, the opening Allegro con brio of the Trio in A minor from 1884 shows Sibelius tackling sonata form for the first time. However, by far the most confident achievement on this disc comprises the four-movement Hafträsk Trio of 1886, which falls very pleasingly on the ear.

Sibelians can rest assured that these are affectionate, deft performances, ideally recorded. BIS’s booklet is a model of its kind.