It was only when Joaquín Turina (1882-1949) moved from his home town of Seville to Paris that he discovered an authentically Spanish voice, encouraged in particular by his compatriot Isaac Albeniz. Today, the Piano Trio in F is one of Turina's first works from his mature period, although it was lost for many years and only rediscovered in 1999.

The gap of over two decades between this early work and Turina's first numbered trio is clearly reflected in the contrast of idioms. An essentially extroverted, romantic temperament has been refined over time and life into a more angular melodic style, supported by a more chromatic and allusive harmony - no less 'Spanish' in its way, perhaps even more so. For many years, this piece was Turina's best-known chamber music work, even before the Danzas fantasticas, which delighted many listeners of Alicia de Larrocha and (in its orchestrated form) Ernest Ansermet.

Now the First Piano Trio can be appreciated in the broader context of Turina's compositions for a notoriously demanding genre, and we hear the three instruments gain a greater degree of independence in each work. The Trio No. 2 from 1933 continues this process of refinement and distillation, notwithstanding the Brahmsian hemiolas that destabilize the opening theme.

Turina's masterpiece in the piano trio genre is arguably Circulo, a concise three-movement essay that he composed in 1936 on the eve of the Second World War. It traces the course of a single day, from the slow emergence of dawn to a dance in the middle of an Andalusian day to the gradual onset of dusk, which begins in wild exuberance and ends peacefully under a starry sky.

The Orphelion Ensemble was founded in Vienna by the Spanish violinist Deborah Gonsalves and the Austrian-German cellist Berthold Hamburger. For this new recording of Turina's Trios, they are accompanied by Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino, Artist-in-Residence Professor of Piano at Texas Tech University and An Eva Browning. Orphelion is based in Spain and performs worldwide with a flexible roster of artists to pursue an artistically challenging program that includes collaborations with leading visual artists, writers and actors.

- Joaquin Turina was born in Seville, Spain, where he received his first music lessons. He later moved to Madrid and then settled in Paris, where he took composition lessons with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and studied piano with Moritz Moszkowski. He inevitably came into contact with Debussy and Ravel, and his early compositions were clearly influenced by the Impressionists. However, he returned to his native Spain and developed his own style, in which the rich folklore, folk music and atmosphere of Spain are to the fore. Together with Albeniz, Granados and De Falla, he founded the Spanish Nationalist School.

This new recording presents Turina's complete works for piano trio and clearly shows the development of his compositional style. It is music of great imagination, timbre and instrumental brilliance, in which the sounds and scents of Spain are almost palpable.

Excellent performances by the Orphelion Ensemble, consisting of Deborah Gonsalves (violin) and Berthold Hamburger (cello), accompanied by Daniel del Pino (piano).