Brahms: Piano Quintet / Schubert: "Trout" Quintet - Amadeus String Quartet / Clifford Curzon |...

classical music: Brahms: Piano Quintet / Schubert: "Trout" Quintet - Amadeus String Quartet / Clifford Curzon | Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, ...

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Frozen The Adventures of ... Roberto Burle Marx... Leonard Bernstein ... Brahms: Piano Quin...

	Brahms: Piano Quintet / Schubert: "Trout" Quintet - Amadeus String Quartet / Clifford Curzon Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, ... BBC Legends, 1999 average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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These two beloved masterpieces of the chamber-music literature hardly need an introduction. There are many recordings of them, but certainly this one, captured live in the '70s and newly reissued, is hard to beat. Steeped in the European tradition, the players have a natural affinity for every nuance of mood and character of these works; with spontaneous, deeply felt expressiveness, they draw the listener into the music and their own experience of it. The pianist fits into the quartet like a glove on the hand, and the string sound is incomparable, as homogeneous as if spun out of a single substance. The first violinist's tone is ravishingly beautiful, variable, intense, singing with velvety warmth and soaring with radiant ecstasy, and he tosses off the virtuoso passages with breathtaking ease. The Brahms has somber austerity, turbulent drama, unbridled fire, and serene simplicity; the Schubert is light and airy, all sunny grace, charm, gossamer delicacy, youthful exuberance, and carefree hope. This is a heart-warming, blissful recording. --Edith Eisler

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Infectious live performances from some old hands

Clifford Curzon and the Amadeus Quartet were staples of the London music scene for many years--the quartet persisted without a change in personnel for forty years. These live BBC recordings were made in Royal Festival Hall, known for its poor acoustics. The 1974 Brahms F minor Quintet fares worse of the two--the piano is suspended in an echoy space that blurs Curzon's articulation. But these are both soft-grained, genial readings anyway.

In the "Trout" Quintet, recorded three years earlier in 1971, the sonics are much better. All the instruments are clearer, and Curzon's piano sounds natural and well blended with the strings. This is relaxed music-making by old hands who know each other well. The Amadeus blend seamlessly. And yet I feel there are limitations. The "Trout" lacks imagination and buoyaant freedom, even though in its slightly earthbound way it's very enjoyable. The Brahms could use a good deal more incisiveness from Curzon; it's a shade too comfortable with its own mellowness.

Even so, these are very amiable readings, and as live performances go quite accurate and balanced ones as well.

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Tracks
Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a: 1. Allegro non troppo - Poco sostenuto - Tempo 1 | Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a: 2. Andante, un poco Adagio | Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a: 3. Scherzo. Allegro - Trio | Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a: 4. Finale. Poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo - Tempo 1 - Presto non troppo | Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello & double bass in A major ('Trout'), D. 667 (Op. posth. 114): 1. Allegro vivace | Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello & double bass in A major ('Trout'), D. 667 (Op. posth. 114): 2. Andante | Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello & double bass in A major ('Trout'), D. 667 (Op. posth. 114): 3. Scherzo. Presto | Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello & double bass in A major ('Trout'), D. 667 (Op. posth. 114): 4. Thema. Andantino - Variazioni | Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello & double bass in A major ('Trout'), D. 667 (Op. posth. 114): 5. Finale. Allegro giusto

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