This two-disc set begins with two of Ravel"s most famous chamber music works, the Piano Trio and the Sonata for Violin and Cello, and ends with a third, the Sonata for Violin and Piano. They flank an early, unknown Violin Sonata and nine pieces--two for piano solo, the rest transcriptions for violin or cello and piano. Inevitably, the program"s substance and primary interest lie in the three masterpieces, though the early one-movement Sonata, which clearly shows Ravel"s inexperience in controlling form and structure, harbors the seeds of his mature style. The short pieces are predominantly slow and often mournful, which induces a certain sameness of character and mood, but their songfulness is well suited to the violin and cello. The performances by three virtuosic soloists who have collaborated for two decades are splendid, technically brilliant and stylistically idiomatic. Their sound is beautiful, infinitely varied in color, nuance, and inflection; their ensemble and balance are excellent; their phrasing, buildups, and expressiveness are unanimous. They identify with the composer"s every mood and sentiment, from dreamy languor, sorrowful lamentation, and passionate abandon to shimmering fleetness and ironic humor. --Edith Eisler