COMPOSERS: Schumann
LABELS: MCA Millennium Classics
WORKS: Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47; Piano Quintet in E flat, Op. 44
PERFORMER: Jörg Demus (piano) Barylli Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: MCD 80125 ADD mono (1956)
Some reissues show their age; others come up as fresh as the day they were made. This is definitely one of the latter. The engineers have done wonders to spruce up the 1956 tape, and have resisted the temptation to add a fake stereo effect. The performances have a beefy, virile quality, which occasionally sounds a touch heavy. The scherzo of the Piano Quartet isn’t as elfin and delicate as, say, the Emersons on DG. But in every other respect it’s wonderful. A word of warning: the names of the quartet movements have been attributed to the quintet, and vice versa. Ivan Hewett
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47; Piano Quintet in E flat, Op. 44
Some reissues show their age; others come up as fresh as the day they were made. This is definitely one of the latter. The engineers have done wonders to spruce up the 1956 tape, and have resisted the temptation to add a fake stereo effect. The performances have a beefy, virile quality, which occasionally sounds a touch heavy. The scherzo of the Piano Quartet isn’t as elfin and delicate as, say, the Emersons on DG. But in every other respect it’s wonderful. A word of warning: the names of the quartet movements have been attributed to the quintet, and vice versa. Ivan Hewett
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:38 pm