One of the most fascinating topics for study in the arts is the phenomenon of the striking, seemingly sudden increase in a composer's artistry made evident by comparing two works of the same type. Only seven years intervene between this work and Dvorák's second trio for piano, violin, and cello. Yet in this work there is much more maturity, control over musical material, and depth of feeling than in the prior work. More than just the seven more years of experience accounts for these. During this period the composer experienced professional disappointment after writing operas that did not find acceptance, formed a friendship with Johannes Brahms that provided a chance to share ideas about music, and suffered the death of his mother.

This music is darker in tone than the two earlier trios, and has an immediately evident seriousness of purpose. In the realm of development of his craft, Dvorák here shows a much greater understanding of writing for the piano in a chamber-music context.

At nearly 40 minutes, this is Dvorák's largest work for piano trio. The first movement is full of passion. It begins without introduction, yet the character of the opening theme is brooding and ominous. The second subject is tender. The first gets most of the attention in a passionate development section, and the recapitulation is dramatically convincing.

Dvorák originally placed the slow movement next, but in revising the work before its first performance placed the relatively brief (six-minute) scherzo movement as relief between two movements that are both over ten minutes long. Instead of being a scherzo per se, this movement is actually in the rhythm of a polka. The slow movement is surely bears the marks of the composer's friendship with Brahms. The finale, allegro con brio, starts off with the lightness of a dance movement, but it soon turns heroic, with a very dramatic development. At the very end the dance-like idea begins anew and the trio whirls to its conclusion.

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