Charles Ives wrote his only piano trio between the 1904 - 1911, claiming that most of the work was done on the trio during the first year and that it was revised in 1911. This trio is a perfect example of the musical characteristics that set Ives leagues apart from virtually every other composer in the classical music world. Perhaps the most distinguishing element of Ives' work is his unique ability to use well-known American folk tunes, anthems, and church hymns, transforming them through various methods into creations that are unmistakably his own. Countless musical phrases and familiar melodic fragments emerge from the three movements that comprise the trio.

The first movement begins in an atypical way—rather than all three instruments combining from the start (as most piano trios would), the piano duos with cello and then with violin. The piano part sounds disjointed, leaping around and creating dissonance with the somber, lyrical melodies in the strings. There is no obvious time signature in either part and the parts do not necessarily match up rhythmically. This creative use of meter and rhythm is another defining characteristic of Ives' work. After some time, all three parts combine, each playing their own distinct material, and the result is intense and dark although the ending chord in this movement is perfectly harmonious, a major triad.

The title of the second movement is "TSIAJ," an acronym meaning "This scherzo is a joke." It is romping and playful, built on many popular tunes of the day, including fiddle tunes, Long, Long Ago (a folk tune), My Old Kentucky Home by Stephen Foster, fragments of Dixieland, and virtually countless more tunes. These tunes are cleverly layered on top of one another, existing simultaneously in various keys, time signatures, and rhythms. The end result is a cacophonous and boisterous hysteria through which, amazingly, one can actually distinguish the various familiar tunes.

The final movement of the trio is a moderato like the first movement, although the musical content is quite different. The melodies are lyrical and expressive, but not nearly as somber as those in the first movement. The melodies often sound more classically influenced here than in the other movements. The cello melody at the beginning, which recurs throughout the piece, sounds almost like a hybrid of two melodies from the Chopin and Mendelssohn (D major) cello sonatas. The three instruments complement each other well in this movement despite the composer's combination of various melodies. There are, predictably, sections of discord (thanks to Ives' frequent use of polytonality), and in the end the piece resolves with the hymn Rock of Ages. This beautiful melody is introduced by the cello then picked up by the violin, with a piano accompaniment that, because of its key, creates chords against the melody that almost sound like the beginning of a Gershwin prelude. The piece ends quietly, bringing a surprisingly tranquil close to a piece that is anything but tranquil.

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