COMPOSERS: Dvorak/Schumann
LABELS: Arco Diva (dist Czech Music Direct)
ALBUM TITLE: Dvorak/Schumann
WORKS: Piano Quintet No. 2 in a, Op. 81; Schumann: Piano Quintet in E Flat, op.44
PERFORMER: Martin Kasík (piano); Wihan Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: UP 0055-2 131
Usually Dvoπák’s famous Second
Piano Quintet is coupled with
another of his chamber works,
such as the American Quartet,
but linking it to Schumann’s
Piano Quintet is a cunning move.
Dvoπák was prompted to write his
Quintet as a result of considering
a much less satisfactory work he
had composed some 15 years before,
but Schumann’s seminal Quintet
may also have been hovering in
the background as inspiration:
undoubtedly there are tell-tale
similarities between the opening
themes of both slow movements,
and the use of these melodies as
an emotional touchstone and the
introduction of a determined faster
section also draws them together.
These are pungent and passionate
performances. Recorded in a rather
forward manner, with the piano
sounding a touch hard, individual
instrumental lines have a spotlight
thrown on them, sometimes at
the expense of an overall sense
of ensemble. Nevertheless there
are impressive moments in the
Schumann, not least in the slow
movement; elsewhere, the emotional
contrasts can seem somewhat
extreme endangering a sense of line,
and the scherzo feels hard driven
rather than exhilarating. Much of
the Dvoπák Quintet receives a more
considered performance with a
particularly well-structured account
of the first movement, although it
is a pity that the exposition repeat is
omitted. The slow movement also
fares very well, but the radiant trio
of the scherzo is on the routine side
and the finale rattles along with
little sense of contour or climax.
While there are good things here,
the performance nowhere approaches
that of the Gaudier Ensemble.
Jan Smaczny.