Recordings: Kernis’ quartets get their due; Cuban music’s subtler side is revealed; old-time Puccini is unearthed, and more.

Of the four surviving Dvorak piano trios, only the final one, the “Dumky,” has truly made its way into everyday chamber music life-- which is interesting since it is the least conventional of the lot. The first two trios are products of Dvorak’s early 30s, when he was still trying to find his own voice. The Opus 21 Trio has lots of Czech local color, more so than the Brahms-influenced Opus 26, but both are shackled to their traditional four-movement, sonata-form structures. The Opus 65 Trio is even more saturated with Brahmsian harmonies, figurations and weight, occasionally using Czech dances the way Brahms would indulge in Gypsy rhythms.

But the Opus 90 “Dumky” is, at last, an original contribution to the genre, with wild mood swings between melancholy and revelry spread over six movements. All, however, are attractive, tuneful works that have not been given the complete cycle treatment on discs very often. The Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio performances in this two-CD set are smooth, assured, yet a bit too controlled; you wish they would kick up their heels and dig into the folk dance rhythms with more abandon.

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