Amazon.comElisabeth Westenholtz has shown up on the BIS label in a variety of roles, including solo pianist and organist. Here she leads an international trio (pianist from Sweden, violinist from Czechoslovakia, cellist from France) in fine performances of two Romantic trio staples. It's hard to find an appropriate coupling for the Smetana Trio--one of Dvorák's, perhaps--so from a Smetana standpoint this disc makes sense, especially since it's such a dramatic and effective performance. For Mendelssohn, though, there's a much more obvious coupling: the other Mendelssohn Trio. Both Mendelssohn Trios make up one disc of a splendid Vox bargain set by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, three discs which sell for about the price of this one. --Leslie Gerber