The Seraphim Trio makes a welcome return to ABC Classics with an album of Beethoven's piano trios. Beethoven's trios are amongst the finest works in the chamber canon, taking the form spawned by Mozart and Haydn and developing it into a musical genre which reached symphonic proportions in its musical language and virtuosity.

The Pianist Chika Inaoka was born in Hyogo, Japan. She began learning piano at the age of three. She graduated from Kyoto Horikawa high school of music and Tokyo college of music in a Piano Performance Course. From 2000 she studied at Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts with Ok-Hi Lee and Prof. Rudolf Meister. She completed her postgraduate studies course with the highest honor in 2003 and her “Konzert Examen Solist Course” with the highest honor in 2005 by the special support of the German government scholarship (DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service).

A prolific and gifted composer, Myslivecek wrote instrumental music, including 'Symphonies' and 'Chamber Pieces'. His first cycle of 'String Quartets' was published in Paris in 1768, the final one in Amsterdam, shortly after his death. These works were often performed in extended formations as symphonies. Myslivecek's 'Quartets' are characterised by wonderfully refined slow middle movements. Even more unique are his oboe quintets.