The Trio de la Cour de Belgique (‘Belgian Court Trio’), regarded as one of the finest chamber music ensembles in the 1920s and 30s, toured throughout Europe throughout the interwar years. Representing the eloquent tradition of the Franco-Belgian school of music making, all three musicians – Alfred Dubois (1898-1949), the pianist Émile Bosquet (1878-1959) and the cellist Maurice Dambois (1889-1969) – were protégés of the great Eugène Ysaÿe. Dubois took over the mantle of Ysaÿe as Belgium’s greatest violinist and passed on the Belgian tradition to his pupil Arthur Grumiaux. Both Bosquet and Dambois performed frequently with Ysaÿe, and the latter was a member of both Ysaye’s string trio and his quartet, as well as the dedicatee of Ysaÿe’s solo Cello Sonata.

All the recordings of the Trio de la Cour de Belgique were made for the Belgian division of the Columbia Graphophone Company. These recordings were primarily issued in Belgium and France, and remain highly prized by chamber music connoisseurs. As well as Mozart’s tender E-major and Schumann’s passionate G-minor Trios, Franck’s early F-sharp minor Trio concertant and Saint-Saëns’s F-major Trio make up two Franco-Belgian chamber works. The exotic Piano Trio No.1 by the Spanish composer Joaquin Turina fills out this 2-CD set, which also includes several short pieces for violin and piano performed by Alfred Dubois and the pianist Fernand Goeyens.