It would be hard to imagine more amiable performances of these two strongly characterized Brahms works...intense as well as warm, plainly derived from long experience performing this music in concert... The romanticism of the Nash approach comes out particularly strongly in the opening Andante of the Horn Trio, with the horn soloist, Frank Lloyd, producing exceptionally rich, braying tone to remind one of Dennis Brain. After relaxed accounts of the first three movements the galloping finale is then given with great panache, conveying more fun than the more virtuoso reading from Ashkenazy, Perlman and Tuckwell. Thanks partly to the CRD recording, the Nash performances are made to sound satisfyingly beefy, almost orchestral, though some may find the full-bodied sound a degree too reverberant, with the piano rather in front of the strings. The disc can be strongly recommended, particularly as this is the only available coupling of these two works.
