Gabriel Fauré was 78 years old and deaf as a post when he composed his piano trio, but in music old age is just a number, and here vitality and beauty abound. The first movement consists of long melodic lines against a gurgling piano accompaniment, while the middle movement's Andantino is one of Fauré's most beautiful achievements. The finale stutters, resists and stutters its way on step by step, but finally achieves a kind of redemption.

Weird and wacky, but still irresistible, you could say that about Stravinsky. His septet was composed in the early 1950s and is written in twelve-tone style, where the twelve notes of the scale are arranged in one or more rows that are used strictly during composition. It may seem like a musical straitjacket; in Stravinsky's case, however, it sounds like quite a fun one, in three short, very assertive movements.

Anton Arensky was able to retire at the age of 40 thanks to a lucrative pension deal at the Tsar's court in St Petersburg, but before he did, he composed his only piano quintet, a work that for some reason has not been played much. The highlight here is the two middle movements, first a simple French song that Arensky develops into a magnificent variation movement, then a scherzo that makes your body tingle. In the finale, Arensky attempts a fugue in the spirit of Bach, but in his leisurely mood he quickly abandons this project (retirement was just around the corner) and instead finishes with an extract from the proud opening movement.

• Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924):
  Trio in D minor op. 120 (20 min)
  With: Thorsten Johanns (clarinet), Marie-Elisabeth Hecker (cello), Nino Gvetadze (piano)klassiskmusikk.com
• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971):
  Septet (10 min)
  Med: Thorsten Johanns (clarinet), Audun Halvorsen (bassoon), Lasse Mauritzen (horn), Benjamin Schmid (violin), Adrien La Marca (viola), Jan-Erik Gustavsson (cello), Nikita Khnykin (piano)klassiskmusikk.com
• Anton Arensky (1861-1906):
  Piano Quintet in D major op. 51 (22 min)
  Med: Benjamin Schmid (violin), Ava Bahari (violin), Sarah McElravy (viola), Andreas Brantelid (cello), Christian Ihle Hadland (piano)