Anton Arensky’s death at 45 robbed Russian music of a great composer. In the dramatic contrasts and mastery of form in his Piano Trio of 1894, the music surges like tides, contrasting with passages of exquisite clarity and fleet-footed energy. At its heart is an elegy for a young cellist,…

Classical music has always welcomed inspiration from other sources. For Robert Schumann, master of brilliantly evocative musical miniatures, that included folk tales and fairy stories. In this work for clarinet, viola and piano, though, he leaves the precise details to our imaginations. When the young Brahms met Robert and Clara…