Schubert: Piano Quintet in A, D667 (Trout); Introduction & Variations on Trockne Blumen, D802; Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen, D343

COMPOSERS: Schubert
LABELS: Virgin
WORKS: Piano Quintet in A, D667 (Trout); Introduction & Variations on Trockne Blumen, D802; Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen, D343
PERFORMER: Renaud Capuçon (violin), Gerard Causse (viola), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Alois Posch (double bass), Frank Braley (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 545 5632

This is a brisk, bracing Trout that, more than most, stresses the music’s alfresco holiday spirit. In the opening Allegro the players take Schubert’s vivace marking to heart, and give one of the snappiest performances on disc. While not insensitive to the sudden pianissimos and poetic key changes, they tend to press eagerly onwards rather than probe the moments of mystery and reflection. With a well-judged piano-string balance (and a pianist who knows when to be unobtrusive), the whole performance conveys a crucial sense of happy give-and-take. Both the slow movements flow easily, with some delicate touches of timing and colour in the song variations. The scherzo, taken at a true, bounding Presto, has a lusty kick to its rhythms (more than usually I kept thinking of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony here), while the finale, shorn of its repeat, dances and frolics with delightful buoyancy. If you want a Trout of untroubled, athletic exuberance – and why not? – this finely recorded new performance (I particularly liked the tangy rhythmic presence of the double bass) is as recommendable as any, especially if you fancy the main companion work: the brilliant but, to my ears, vapid Variations for piano and flute (or, as here, violin) on the song ‘Trockne Blumen’ – Schubert the confessional poet implausibly turned virtuoso showman. That said, other recordings of the Trout, including my two favourites, by András Schiff and the Hagen (Decca) and Brendel, Zehetmair and friends (Philips), are more individual and subtle, especially in the contributions of their pianists. The Philips team gives a searching, boldly etched performance without losing sight of the music’s sociable origins, while Schiff and his partners combine Viennese charm with a poetic inwardness that I’ve rarely, if ever, heard equalled. Richard Wigmore