Trios for Two Violins and Cello (EMB)

Transcribed and edited by Árpád Pejtsik and Lajos Vigh, these trios are a series of substantial stand-alone movements arranged chronologically from 17th-century Couperin to 1880s Elgar. These works are meant for intermediate to advanced students but are nicely varied so that you can choose a work that challenges one member of the group over another—for example there is a Boccherini minuet that has a showy thumb-position trio for the cellist, but the violin parts are not too difficult. In other trios, the first- and second-violin parts trade the melody back and forth, sometimes with the first violin part up an octave. The first-violin part can reach fairly high in the range, while the second-violin part doesn’t venture beyond third position. The music is well laid out, with foldout pages to avoid inopportune page turns. There are carefully notated bowings and fingerings, some of which are slightly odd—such as downbeat sforzandi marked with up bows—but in general, this is a terrific collection, well worth having in any string player’s or teacher’s library.