This book examines two notable forms of chamber music involving piano and strings. Smallman surveys the development of these genres from their origins in the mid-eighteenth century to the present day.

Over the centuries of its history the Piano Trio has gained a repertoire of exceptional size and richness, one which includes some of the greatest and most widely admired of all chamber works. This book, the first to be devoted solely to a study of genre, reviews the development of the trio in different countries, against the background of general musical history, showing how it has reflected changes in style and technique from Mozart and Haydn in the late eighteenth century to the avant-garde composers of the present day. The author's survey focuses on the principal works in the trio repertoire, and his clear analytical descriptions are illustrated by a number of musical examples. In parallel with this he gives particular consideration to the problems involved in scoring for the ensemble, and to the way in which the participating instruments were gradually developed in range and power from the earliest times of the genre.