Antonin DVORÁK (1841-1904)
String Quintet in A minor, Opus 1
String Quintet in E flat major, Opus 97
Vlach Quartet, with Ladislav
Kyselák (viola)
Rec 12th-13th April 1997, 30th-31st May 1997, Martínek Studio,
Prague
NAXOS 8.553376
(65.04)
Crotchet
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Dvorák's E flat Quintet, Opus 97 is a product of his American years
(the mid-1890s), and it is a work of great merit, the work of a master at
the height of his powers. It is coupled here in a persuasive performance
with his Opus 1, a piece for similar instrumental forces which he composed
at the tender age of 19.
The A minor Quintet is in fact Dvorák's earliest surviving chamber
composition. It is by no means a negligible achievement, since there is a
real sincerity of expression and mastery of means over ends. These artists
clearly feel so, and give a really committed interpretation, which is nicely
recorded, too. In the final analysis the piece does not justify its time
scale in terms of subtlety and integrity of development, but it is more than
merely an oddity.
The E flat Quintet is quite another matter. For here is one of the great
chamber works of the later 19th century, in an splendidly idiomatic performance
too. The music has much in common with the contemporary New World
Symphony and American Quartet, and it yields to neither in terms
of quality. This performance brings out the music's depth of feeling; listen,
for example, to the nostalgic coda to the first movement. While plenty of
detail can be heard in the textures of the lively scherzo and finale, the
approach might perhaps have been more robust and direct. This small caveat
aside, this disc will give much pleasure to any lover of chamber music.
Terry Barfoot
