Brahms: Sonata No 3; Liszt: Sonata in B minor, etc

Jitka Čechová's vivid playing lights up the Smetana Trio's recording of the Mendelssohn Trio No 1 in D minor, reviewed here last month. Now she appears alone in this live recording from Prague's major concert venue, the Rudolfinum, dazzling in the Brahms Sonata No 3, demanding attention in the opening allegro maestoso and taking the "allegro energico" marking of the scherzo more than literally. She carries this excitement over into Liszt's monumental Sonata in B minor before crashing into the familiar opening of the Mephisto Waltz with suitably wild abandon. Exciting stuff.