Heinrich von Herzogenberg's search for selfhood finally came to fruition in his two piano trios. After highly promising successes in his native Graz with large-format works modeled on Wagner, the talented young composer experienced a creative and existential crisis from which he first recovered when he turned to Johannes Brahms. The Vienna Piano Trio documents this artistic awakening with a top-quality interpretation, adding a new facet to the reception of Herzogenberg's music after its sleeping beauty's century of slumbering. Herzogenberg so deliberately followed the path on which Brahms had set out that we now and again might think that we were listening to a previously undiscovered work by Brahms. Brahms himself gave Herzogenberg's compositions a rather cold reception. Might the great Northern German perhaps have been shocked by the anything but epigonic creative power displayed by his younger fellow composer, who held up a magic mirror to him showing him the path leading to the future? The Vienna Piano Trio dedicates itself without preconceived notions to this magnificent music. With their powerful performance style and youthfully fresh verve the three instrumentalists inspire standing ovations from their audiences. To those who want to experience the same at home we recommend this thrilling release.