Musical Gems
‘Musical Gems’ presents a selection of very attractive, but seldomly played short masterpieces.

The first of these gems is the enchanting, but seldomly performed ‘Three Russian Songs’ for Piano Trio by Michael Glinka. Next comes the charming Mignonette by French composer Benjamin Godard, followed by a melodious and surprising arrangement of a Chinese song (Pastorale) by cellist Xiaojia Xu. The disc is concluded by two movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Trepak) played in an arrangement specially made for the Erasmus Trio by George Sosnovsky, neither of which was earlier released on CD.

The small CD is handsomely packed in an exclusive little box covered and lined with black natural silk with silver imprint. It was sold like hot cakes to the public after the Trio’s recent concerts in China and will make a handsome Christmas gift here.

Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) Three Russian Songs (1827) arr. Eduard Herrmann
1.	I Moderato	2:43
2.	II Moderato	3:31
3.	III Andante Mosso	3:42
Charles Godard
4.	Mignonnette Moderato con moto Op. 44 No. 1	1:06
Sha Han Kun
5.	Pastoran arr. Xiaojia Xu	5:24
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) from The Nutcracker, Suite Op.71a arr. George Sosnovsky
6.	Danse de la Fée Dragée (Andante non troppo)	2:10
7.	Danse russe Trépak (Molto vivace)	1:12
Total disc time:		18:27

Erasmus Trio

Thomas Herrmann, piano
Vera Laporeva, violin
Xiaojia Xu, cello