Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano

Music from Copland House: Jesse Mills, violin; James Wilson, cello; Michael Boriskin, piano

Though John Musto has had a major publisher for many years and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize nearly a decade ago, until now there have been no commercially available CDs devoted exclusively to his compositions. Music from Copland House more than rights that wrong on a new disc featuring three works written since Musto got that Pulitzer nod. The earliest of these, a Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, remains my favorite. The opening, which hints at a rapprochement between post-minimalism and a latter-day impressionism, is ample proof, if anyone still needs some, that there’s still a lot of great music that can be written for this most conventional of chamber music combinations.

—FJO