This is an unusual program of new Piano Trios written by women composers. All of them are interesting, accessible, and veer towards the serious side of expression. For me, the highlight of the recording is the trio by Lera Auerbach, who can do no wrong as a composer; everything she writes is gold. Her Piano Trio is infused with her customary dark intensity. Although concise in length, it is a powerful curtain-opener. The first movement has a grotesque and angular character with startling sonic effects; yelping noises on the strings imitate the cries of seagulls. Bleak and frozen spaciousness characterizes the second movement, the emotional heart of the trio, with a piano part that has the haunting hypnotic quality of Feldman. The trio concludes with a bang in the third movement: violent agitation, whirlwinds of notes, booming tone clusters, distortion on the strings, and eerie throbs of lower-bass piano chords.Most outstanding for originality on this recording is Stacy Garrop's Piano Trio (1998): a psychological portrait of the character Seven from the TV show, Star Trek Voyager. Some may scoff at this idea and wonder whatever happened to finding inspiration in Byron, Heine, and Baudelaire, but I love the idea of art music influenced by the Star Trek universe. Garrop's trio is inspired by a poem about death, as well. Taken as absolute music, this trio is somber, modern, and forceful. The work has all the trappings of a post-modernist aesthetic: violent atonality, tone clusters, and sonic effects like col legno, distortion, and glissandi. Initially the piece is barely audible with the piano dotting the soundscape in low bass material; gradually it builds towards powerful intensity with severe clashes of chords.Jennifer Higdon's Piano Trio (2003) is an exercise in portraying colors through music. Each movement is an attempt to suggest a single color through mood, texture, and key. The serene and soaring "Pale Yellow" is in a bright major key with some gentle dissonance. "Fiery Red" is drastically different in every fashion. Wild furies of dissonance, ostinato figures, and an onslaught of double stops project a feeling of passion and violence, quite appropriate for the color red. Laura Schwendinger's "C'e la Luna Questa Sera?" (1998/2006) is a 5-minute piece of sober mood, employing high registers in the strings, a preference for lower bass figures on the piano, and a sustained melodic line. The atmosphere is dark and mysterious, an evocation of moonlight as befitting the title. Augusta Read Thomas's "Moon Jig" (2005) was the least interesting item in this program. It's a melding of jazz rhythm and modernist tendencies of Bartok and Stravinsky.Joan Tower, perhaps the greatest female composer of the 20th century, is represented by her Trio Cavany (2007), a mature work of great potency. This single-movement 17-minute work is an intricate tapestry of ideas, exploring a range of dynamics and expressive gestures. Passages of pianissimo reflection alternate with fortissimo alarm-bell eruptions. The piano part is dramatic and shaped by stern and dissonant chords throughout.Bottom line: If you like serious and tough chamber music of both the modern and neo-Romantic persuasion, this recording is a treasure. The Lincoln Trio is a prodigious ensemble and their performances leave nothing to be desired.