The foremost Italian orchestral composer of the late-nineteenth century, as well as an accomplished pianist and conductor, Giuseppe Martucci was one of a trio of pioneering Italian composers known collectively as Il ponte (The Bridge) who were determined to break away from opera’s dominance in Italian musical life. Together with Giovanni Sgambati and Antonio Bazzini he established a connection between Italian instrumental music and Austro-German Romanticism. Perhaps nowhere is this better exemplified than in the two Piano Trios which show the important influence of Brahms as well as Martucci’s gift for long-breathed melodies combined with pulsing lines and contrapuntal interplay. Martucci’s complete orchestral works can be heard on Naxos 8.570929-32.