Composer: Franz Peter Schubert
Performer: Christian Zacharias, Christian Ockert, Leipziger Streichquartett
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: MDG
Catalogue: MDG3070625
Release: 1998
Size: 232 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Piano Quintet in A Major, D 667
01. I. Allegro vivace
02. II. Andante
03. III. Scherzo
04. IV. Thema and Variations
05. V. Allegro giusto
String Trio (Fragment) in B-Flat Major, D 111A
06. I. Allegro
String Trio in B flat Major, D 581
07. I. Allegro moderato
08. II. Andante
09. III. Menuetto
10. IV. Rondo. Allegretto
This Trout must surely be one of the very best versions of this much-recorded work – the sound is wonderfully natural, and so is the performance.
You get the impression that here was an occasion when everything ‘clicked’, giving the playing a friendly, relaxed feeling that’s just right for this carefree piece. Zacharias has the knack of making even the simplest phrase sound expressive, and the strings, without any exaggeration, produce the most beautiful tonal shadings.All five players, too, have an impressive sense of line; the phrasing and points of emphasis are balanced so that Schubert’s expansive designs are projected compellingly. If the Trout shows a Schubertian spaciousness, his one completed String Trio is unusually compact.
Another distinguished feature is the florid, Spohr-like elegance of much of the violin writing – Andreas Seidel is splendidly stylish and confident. This is another very fine performance, emphasising the predominating gentle lyricism, but with plenty of vigour and panache when required. The String Trio fragment, less than two minutes, continues the same, ‘let’s hear everything’ approach; it’s a sketch for what subsequently became the comparatively familiar B flat Quartet, D112.