Trio 2 / Cello Sonata

Shostakovich's Trio No. 2 is a grim masterpiece, a disguised tribute to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust written during World War II and actually using Jewish folk themes. The Cello Sonata was written a decade earlier, but it has its own dark political shadows of Stalinism. So don't buy this disc for fun and games. But do buy it for a couple of 20th-century masterpieces, played by a trio of well-known musicians who perform the music with great dedication. If you can put up with old sound, you can hear both of these pieces played by the composer (the Sonata on MultiSonic 31 0179, the Trio on Doremi DHR 7701). --Leslie Gerber