DVORAK: Piano Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 5; Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81 – Goldner String Quartet/Piers Lane, piano – Hyperion CDA67805, 66:32 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
Dvorak composed his First Piano Quintet in 1872, just as his own style began to emerge from beyond the heavy influences from Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms. In spite of the aggressive and plastic nature of the writing, and its testament to the composer’s capacity for tuneful expression, Dvorak had little respect for the work and attempted to destroy any trace of it. Luckily, a contemporary pianist, Ludevit Prochazka, having taken a precautionary measure, copied the quintet so that Dvorak could later (1887) revise it, the edition of which appeared in 1922.
Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet (rec. 15-17 April 2009) make good sense of the first movement, which moves briskly, the main melody martial but fluent. Something of Beethoven marks the Andante sostenuto in F Major, already rife with that folk wisdom which would eventually saturate the Dvorak ethos. Already we can hear how comfortable Dvorak is with the sonorous medium of piano and strings, even in a melancholy contemplative mode. Often, the piano provides a moving muted cantus firmus over which the first violin weaves a mesmeric series of riffs. The cello part (Julian Smiles) makes decisive points in the midst of flowing, pantheistic energies. No less impressive is the writing for viola (Irina Morozova), Dvorak’s chosen instrument. The piano presents a brief cadenza near the end of the movement, rather a consoling nocturne to which individual strings add an epilogue. The last movement, Allegro con brio, has a manic scherzino to open the proceedings, followed by a martially galloping tune that nods to Brahms and Schubert. The keyboard part enjoys flurries and cascading chords that would make their influence felt in the G Minor Piano Concerto. We feel as though the youthful Dvorak were flexing his instrumental muscles, the fledgling fancies of a gifted songster.
The A Major Piano Quintet (1887) requires little explanation, much less “justification.” From its opening rocking tune for the cello and piano, it explodes immediately into joyous rapture, fed by what was once Schubert’s font. The blending of tunes and the subtle shifts of harmonic rhythm ebb and flow so seamlessly we are hardly cognizant of the structural security of the piece. Nice work from the viola to open the second set of melodic groups that swell in mighty harmony over the keyboard bass line. Lane and company take the first movement repeat, so the girth of the piece looms large as well as melodically resonant. First violinist Dene Olding leans gratefully into his part as the keyboard whips into a series of dance motifs. A sweet transition takes us to the recapitulation, the piano part now plastic in pearly play, the open strings creating a cathedral effect. Buoyant, inventive, the music throws its impulses together in a secure mix, fertile and beguiling at once.
The heart of the Quintet is the Dumka, marked Andante con moto but containing any number of mercurial impulses from Dvorak’s Bohemian roots. The music picks up–marked Un pochettino piu mosso–in sensuous riffs, Lane’s keyboard stepping lightly but extensively among ravishing chords from viola and cello. A dramatic contrast occurs marked Vivace, in which the opening stately melody assumes a new canonic series of guises that mount to a wild dance in spectacular colors and feral rhythms. I particularly love the Scherzo, with its luscious cross rhythms and jaunty applications of waltz and furiant. Lane and the Goldner ensemble cast a palpable glow into this music, which sparkles with light glittering invention. The tender central section allows second violinist Dimitry Hall to cross instruments with Dene Olding in lullaby fashion, the piano rocking us to balmy heights. The finale pays homage as much to Schumann as to Schubert, especially in the fugal writing which overlaps the recapitulation. The brisk facility in melodic writing attests to a limitless source of inspiration, as each melody dovetails into another. The essentially light texture of the Goldner Quartet and Lane’s fluid Steinway prove irresistibly charming throughout the happy excursion into Bohemia, and later–in pentatonic riffs–Dvorak’s “native American” mode. Old music, but equally powerful magic.
–Gary Lemco
