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Piano Quintet Archive

The Budapest String Quartet with Rudolph Serkin = MENDELSSOHN, SCHUMANN:  String Quartets, Piano Quintet – Budapest String Quartet/ Rudolf Serkin, piano – Praga Digitals

The Budapest String Quartet with Rudolph Serkin = MENDELSSOHN, SCHUMANN:  String Quartets, Piano Quintet – Budapest String Quartet/ Rudolf Serkin, piano – Praga Digitals

by | Dec 4, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

 The Budapest String Quartet = MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1; SCHUMANN: String Quartet in a minor, Op. 41, No. 1; Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 – Budapest String Quartet/ Rudolf Serkin, piano – Praga Digitals  PRD 250 391, 82:29 (11/24/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] *****: Classic Budapest Quartet performances showcase their Strads in brilliant harmony in Mendelssohn and Schumann. In various incarnations, the Budapest String Quartet endured 1917-1967.  Its originally “Hungarian” character evolved into a Russian ensemble whose repute extended to America, and they accepted the request to perform at the Library of Congress in Coolidge Auditorium on Stradivarius instruments, and their live concerts had the good fortune to have been recorded. The opening 1838 Mendelssohn Quartet in D Major (13 November 1959) provides a vivacious case in point for the ensemble’s thoroughly homogeneous sound and alertness of response, especially when first violin Joseph Roisman (1900-1974) maintained good intonation. The vivacious Molto allegro vivace enjoys rapid, rocket figures in the first violin and tender reflection from Boris Kroyt’s viola.  The broad structure of the music wants to break out beyond the sonata-form to become an exuberant rhapsody whose multifarious themes find connection through […]

Thomas ADÈS: string quartets, piano quintet – DoelenKwartet of Rotterdam / Dimitri Vassilakis- Cybele 

Thomas ADÈS: string quartets, piano quintet – DoelenKwartet of Rotterdam / Dimitri Vassilakis- Cybele 

by | Nov 12, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Thomas ADÈS: string quartets, piano quintet, DoelenKwartet of Rotterdam, Dimitri Vassilakis, pianist / Cybele  5.1 SACD with binaural tracks for headphone listening cat. # 261603 / TT: 58:10  (10/20/17) ****: This is a fine recording and performance of the music of Thomas Adès, born in 1971.  The composer studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as composition and musicology at King’s College in Cambridge. A composer of diverse genre, Adès has written orchestral pieces, chamber music, choral music, and operas.  His chamber opera Powder Her Face (1995) was performed worldwide, while The Tempest (2004)  was performed in London first, then other venues. Adès appears as conductor regularly with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra , the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the symphony orchestras in Melbourne and Sydney, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra . He is the artistic partner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra , which will culminate in the world premiere of a new piano concerto for Kirill Gerstein in 2019. The CD reviewed here contains multiple interesting works by the composer, including Arcadiana op 12 for String Quartet, The Piano Quintet for Piano […]

BEETHOVEN: String Quintet. Piano Quartet. Grosse Fuge – Budapest String Quartet / Walter Trampler, viola/ Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano – Praga Digitals

BEETHOVEN: String Quintet. Piano Quartet. Grosse Fuge – Budapest String Quartet / Walter Trampler, viola/ Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano – Praga Digitals

by | Sep 12, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

BEETHOVEN: String Quintet, Op. 29. Piano Quartet Op. 16. Grosse Fuge Op. 133 (1965, 1962, 1961) – Budapest String Quartet  / Walter Trampler, viola / Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano – Praga Digitals PRD 250381, 74:17 (9/8/17) ***: On a nostalgic disc devoted to important recordings by the fabled Budapest Quartet of tangentially curious, early and late chamber music by Beethoven, Praga Digitals continue their sprint through great classical music recordings of yesteryear.  Spread across five years, all apparently recorded at Columbia Records’ 30th Street Studios, the performances represent the Quartet’s last years of glory before they disbanded in 1967 after having been in business for 50 years. Everything that made them famous, the skills and concentration that enabled them to forge a relentless relationship with the music they played, informs every bar. Anchored by the formidable playing of cellist Mischa Schneider and led by the charismatic first violinist Joseph Roisman, the Quartet’s commitment to speaking with one voice and to choosing honesty as the guiding principle in every substantial musical decision they had to make, came with a cost. As they finally neared the end, the increasing difficulty of their massive achievements become more apparent. Appropriately, the Grosse Fuge, recorded in […]

SHOSTAKOVICH plays SHOSTAKOVICH: 2 Piano Concertos; Concertino, Piano Quintet; Cello Sonata & others – Shostakovich & others – Praga Digitals

SHOSTAKOVICH plays SHOSTAKOVICH: 2 Piano Concertos; Concertino, Piano Quintet; Cello Sonata & others – Shostakovich & others – Praga Digitals

by | Nov 19, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Praga collects a generous portion of the Dmitry Shostakovich legacy in his pianist capacity, working with gifted friends. SHOSTAKOVICH plays SHOSTAKOVICH: From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102; Piano Concerto No. 1 in c minor, Op. 35; Concertino for 2 Pianos in a minor, Op. 94; Piano Quintet in G Major, Op. 57; Cello Sonata in d minor, Op. 40; 4 Preludes for Piano, Op. 34 (arr. violin and piano); 3 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 – Dmitry Shostakovich, p./ Dmitry Tsyganov, v./ Mstislav Rostropovich, cello/ Maxim Shostakovich, p./ Beethoven String Q./ Nina L’Volvna Dorliak, sop./ Zara Dolukhanova, mezzo-sop./ Alexei Maslennikov, tenor/ Moscow Radio Sym. Orch./ Alexander Gauk/ Moscow Philharmonic Orch./ Samuel Samosud – Praga Digitals PRD 250 365.66 (2 CDs), 69:04, 73:06  (11/4/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] *****: In the interest of “authenticity,” few collections can compete with these assembled recordings by Dmitry Shostakovich, 1955 and 1957, in which he appears in his most famous instrumental guise, at the keyboard. As a human being, Shostakovich harbored sympathies for the oppressed Jewish populations of both Nazi and Soviet regimes, and his 1948 cycle of eleven songs From Jewish Poetry (15 January 1955) […]

TANEYEV: Chamber Music with Piano = Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 22; Violin Sonata in a; Piano Quintet in g – Solisti dell’Officina Musicale – Aevea (2 CDs)

TANEYEV: Chamber Music with Piano = Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 22; Violin Sonata in a; Piano Quintet in g – Solisti dell’Officina Musicale – Aevea (2 CDs)

by | Jun 7, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A survey of Taneyev’s chamber music with piano unearths several mighty treasures of earnest power and learned style.  TANEYEV: Chamber Music with Piano =  Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 22; Violin Sonata in a; Piano Quintet in g, Op. 30 – Solisti dell’Officina Musicale – Aevea AE15004005 (2 CDs), 85:30, 72:03 (10/9/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Recorded 21-25 November 2013, these chamber works display the significant talent of Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915), whom some consider to be Tchaikovsky’s natural successor, both as composer and pedagogue. The Piano Quartet (1907) provides a good example of Taneyev’s Romantic style, having been conceived before Taneyev’s departure from the Moscow Conservatory in 1905. The four soloists – Alessandro Deljavan, piano; Daniela Cammarano, violin; Paolo Castellitto, viola; and Andrea Agostinelli, cello – inject a direct energy into the music, the first movement’s offering a robustly expansive Allegro brillante that seems less Russian than lyrically ornamental and militant in the manner of Mendelssohn. Clear period breaks mark the various aspects of Taneyev’s conception of sonata-form.  The main interest lies in the keyboard part, which displays liquid runs and a purring accompaniment to the soaring expressiveness – nostalgic, akin to […]

BRAHMS: Sonata in f minor for 2 Pianos; Variations on a Theme by Haydn – Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti, pianos – Brilliant Classics

BRAHMS: Sonata in f minor for 2 Pianos; Variations on a Theme by Haydn – Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti, pianos – Brilliant Classics

by | Mar 12, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

BRAHMS: Sonata in f minor for Two Pianos, Op. 34b; Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56b – Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti, pianos – Brilliant Classics 94956, 60:22 (7/31/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two of the Brahms orchestral works have their alternate egos realized in glowing terms on two pianos. This first disc in a projected complete series of Brahms’s duo-piano works, all to be recorded by the young Italian musicians Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti; this pairing of two-piano arrangements of larger scores derives from sessions 24-25 July 2014. Brahms in 1871 had already worked his 1864 Two-Piano Sonata from a string quintet, only to have had both Joachim and Clara Schumann declare that its form suited neither medium satisfactorily. The task of composing his first symphony lay ahead, and several of the motifs of the first movement would find heir way into that long-delayed work. But rather than destroy the Sonata, Brahms went forward with this publication, dedicating the score to Princess Anna of Hesse. Brahms would then settle for a hybrid of his former ideas, the Piano Quintet, Op. 34, as a fit medium for its weighty, symphonic conception. The opening Allegro non troppo gravitates […]

Lener Quartet – in quartets of HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN & DVORAK – Opus Kura

Lener Quartet – in quartets of HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN & DVORAK – Opus Kura

by | Feb 1, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Opus Kura revives the heralded Lener Quartet recordings of Mozart, Haydn, and Dvorak. Lener Quartet – HAYDN: String Quartet No. 17 in F Major, Op. 3, No. 5; MENDELSSOHN: Canzonetta from String Quartet, Op. 12; MOZART: Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370; DVORAK: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 – Leon Goossens, oboe/ Olga Loeser-Lebert, piano/ Lener String Quartet – Opus Kura 2114, 67:16 [Distr. by Albany] ****: The Lener Quartet (estab. 1918) rose out of the ranks of the Budapest Opera Orchestra after the throes of WW I. Pupils of Jeno Hubay constituted most of the ensemble, along with one cello student of David Popper: Jeno Lener and Jozef Smilovits, violins; Sandor Roth, viola; and Imre Hartmann, cello. The Lener were the first to record the entire cycle of Beethoven quartets. Their heavy reliance on vibrato and portamento produced a symphonic sound and emotional tenor some found distracting when applied to already sentimental music, such as that by Borodin and Tchaikovsky. Columbia Records signed the ensemble, which maintained a strong recording career 1922-1939. Many of the finer British instrumentalists performed with the Lener Quartet: to wit, the 1933 version of Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, in which famed Leon […]