The Armenian (but Georgian-born) composer Aram Khachaturian has now deservedly taken his place alongside Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich as one of the leading exponents of Soviet music. Khachaturian first made a splash on the Soviet musical scene back in the early 1930s, while he was still studying composition at the Moscow Conservatory, with a series of works that immediately garnered widespread acclaim and recognition. These included his Toccata for piano (1932), Trio for violin, clarinet and piano (1932), and First Symphony (1934). (Strangely, the majority of the works with which the Armenian composer made his name were written before he turned 40.)

The Trio's most remarkable element is its unusual orchestration; indeed, it was almost unprecedented, given that clarinet trios (including those by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Bruch) traditionally used the viola or cello to accompany the clarinet. But Khachaturian opted for the brighter sound of the violin and allotted each instrument an equal share in weaving the work's melodies to a never less than exuberant piano accompaniment. The exchanges between the two instruments are torrid and restless, often coming across as the product of frenzied improvisation. As any listener familiar with Khachaturian's music would expect, the harmonies, rhythms and overall style of Armenian traditional music are prevalent from start to finish: melancholy and a foot-tapping vivacity alternate in the style of a rhapsody in all three movements, each of which follows the slow-fast-slow pattern.

Strange as it may seem, Franz Schubert's Octet was not published in its complete form until 1889, more than sixty years after his death – and then, only thanks to the persistence of a composer of the stature of Johannes Brahms. The Octet, the composer's most expansive work of chamber music, was written in February and March 1824, when Schubert was also working on his two masterful quartets: "Rosamunde", D.804, and "Death and the Maiden", D.810. The work was commissioned by Count Ferdinand Troyer, who was an amateur clarinettist, though – judging by the demands the score makes of the clarinet, and the instrument’s centrality to the Octet as a whole – one of outstanding ability. Troyer was particularly appreciation of Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 20 Septet, a work which had enjoyed incredible popularity in the Austrian capital and far beyond since its première in Vienna in 1800. He therefore asked Schubert to model a new work on this Septet. Schubert agreed and was true to his word: his Octet has the same number of movements as Beethoven's Septet and the movements are not only structured in a similar way, they also employ similar keys and modulations. Of course, the works make use of the same instruments (woodwind and strings), the only difference being that Schubert doubled up the violin for his Octet. Most significant of all, however, are the common intentions the two works share: both seek to entertain their audience (as evolved forms of the classical serenade or divertimento, as we know them from Mozart) while also being "serious", in the sense of having meaning, depth and a flowing musical narrative in which attention is paid to even the minutest details. The Octet received its first private performance a few weeks after its composition (in April 1824) in Troyer's home, but would not be performed in public until 1827. For both these premieres, the first violin was the famous virtuoso of the time, Ignaz Schuppanzigh, who had also premiered several Beethoven quartets. Of the eight instruments in the Octet, the lead roles are clearly assigned to the clarinet (which is only reasonable, seeing as the work was commissioned by a clarinettist) and the first violin, with the two introducing the majority of the themes in each movement and leading their development.