The Trio for piano, clarinet & cello in D minor, Op. 3, from 1896, of the Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky is a work of conservative Romanticism modeled on Brahms' own trio scored for the same instruments of 1892. Indeed, the closing Allegro in D minor of Zemlinsky's Trio takes its main theme directly from the main theme of the parallel movement in Brahms' Trio. Nor is Brahms the only influence apparent in Zemlinsky's work: the opening Allegro ma no troppo in D minor sounds distinctly Slavic with echoes of Tchaikovsky and Dvorák in its themes and the central Andante's big sentimental tune in D major recalls the gestures of the passionate second theme of the closing movement of Mahler's First Symphony. Despite these imitations, Zemlinsky's Trio is an appealing and well-made work by a minor master of the fin de siècle.

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