The trio debuted in 1955 at the Berkshire Music Festival (now the Tanglewood Music Center) with pianist Menahem Pressler, a violinist and a cellist.

The trio has changed over the years, and while there have been five different violinists and three different cellists, Pressler has remained. Today, Pressler performs with cellist Antonio Meneses, who joined the trio in 1998, and violinist Daniel Hope, who joined in 2002.

Thursday's program balanced tradition and innovation with three works whose contrasting styles and even spacing across classical music history strengthened the sense of a retrospective: Trio in G major, Op. 1 No. 2, composed in 1795 by a young Beethoven (German); Trio in E minor, Op. 90, composed in 1891 by a middle-aged Dvorak (Czech); and "Piano Trio," a 1992 re-composing of an earlier work by a failing Alfred Schnittke (Russian).

In the intergenerational Beaux Arts Trio, Pressler exemplified the continuities in classical music traditions, passed down from generation to generation. Although his fingers may not be as fleet or his fortes as powerful as they once were, his musical voice remains vibrant. Expression, nuance, and understanding have deepened with age. Pressler understands precisely the turn of a phrase.

A generation younger, Hope played with verve and passion, especially in the Schnittke. In duets with Pressler, he played carefully and with extreme sensitivity, which at times resulted in a scratchier tone but which also yielded exquisite moments.

Meneses inhabited the middle ground with a lush, complex timbre and strikingly beautiful playing in almost every solo. Meneses also traveled most easily between accompanying and leading, demonstrating that middle ground between youthful skill and the experience of age.

The trio's Beethoven adopted Pressler's aristocratic tone, smoothing the quirks and surprises into an elegance almost delicate. The performance of Schnittke's composition reflected Hope's energy, reaching true fortissimo climaxes and revealing the most individualistic playing. The piece was composed from dreams about his String Trio that Schnittke had while in a coma following a serious stroke.

As Hope explained, "Sometimes you don't know whether you're on this world or off of it."

But those pieces were eclipsed by the trio's Dvorak in the second half, which gelled on a level the others did not. Beaux Arts shone with outstanding ensemble work, emotional depth, and bursts of energy that made hearts sing.