This recital was conceived by the Florestan Trio as the second of a pair. Their first concert had included Tchaikovsky's piano trio; the next day they were back with a programme dominated, on paper at least, by Rachmaninov's Trio Elégiaque No 2. The two pieces are strongly linked: setting to work soon after Tchaikovsky's death, Rachmaninov had dedicated his score to his memory, just as the older composer had inscribed a movement of his own trio on the death of his friend Nikolay Rubinstein. Rachmaninov based his work closely on the structure and mood of Tchaikovsky's, so that the two are perhaps too epic, and too similar, to share the same concert.

However, it wasn't the romantic Rachmaninov that left the greatest impression here. It was nudged out by a work it might have been expected to dwarf, Beethoven's Trio in E flat, Op 1 No 1, which spotlit perfectly the precision, grace and humour of the Florestans' playing. Violinist Anthony Marwood captured the spirit early on with an almost naive simplicity to his playing, and Susan Tomes began the slow movement with a beautifully poised piano solo. The Scherzo, in contrast, had a hint of abandon and a coarse edge that suited it well. There were few real surprises, but the great rasping crescendo towards the end of the finale was one that made us sit up and listen.

The Rachmaninov called for a very different style, one that the Florestans pitched at bravely but with which they sounded less comfortable. Many episodes came over well; the lilting strings and almost playful passages towards the beginning of the Variations, for example. But at times the music seems to demand a whole orchestra and, in some of the fieriest sections, the trio struggled to find extra breadth of tone. They did come close to the full complement of passion required, but not until the end, when the first movement's music returned. It was a powerful culmination, but that wasn't quite enough.