I’m
sure that Brahms with his own Piano
Quintet of 1864 was endeavouring
to emulate the tremendous success
of the Piano Quintet by his friend
and mentor, Robert Schumann. Brahms
would undoubtedly have known the work
when he composed his own Piano Quintet
some twenty-two years later. The work
is greatly esteemed and eminent musicologist
David Ewen
holds the view that, “the
Piano Quintet is one of the supreme
achievements of chamber music”.
The marketing of this release
puzzles me greatly. In this very competitive field there is
a most winning and critically acclaimed CD available. That disc
contains both the Brahms Piano Quintet and the Schumann Piano
Quintet. It is Naxos 8.550406. There is the added bonus that
the Naxos disc is available at super budget price. Surely the
MDG Gold label watch the activities of their competitors yet
they release a recording that includes only the Brahms Piano
Quintet. The MDG Brahms Quintet’s total timing runs to a derisory
thirty-nine minutes; a whole twenty-seven minutes less than
the Naxos release. MDG Gold could have coupled any number of
companion chamber works to fill out the available space. So
what would make someone buy this new MDG Gold release when the
competition from one particularly outstanding recording is so
fierce? Clearly the principal reason for purchasing this release
would be to hear an exceptional performance!
The experienced Leipzig String
Quartet, joined here by pianist Andreas Staier,
are one of Europe’s best ensembles. But not on the evidence
of this release! The sonics on this
recording are over-bright, especially in the forte
passages and this does the augmented Leipzig String Quartet
no favours whatsoever. The performance often seems laboured
and frequently uninspiring as the players appear to lose their
way in the demands of the bitter-sweet second movement andante. Fortunately the ensemble redeem
themselves amid the challenging mood-swings of the third movement
scherzo with a sure-footed and buoyant
account. Brahms’ arduous and complex finale
seems to baffle the players and they emerge rather heavy-handed
on occasions. In this movement the unflattering acoustics behave
as a severe obstacle.
Immediately after listening
to this new release I put on the celebrated Naxos account. This
is played by the Kodály Quartet with
the now legendary pianist Jenö Jandó who is the most recorded
pianist in the history of classical music recording. The difference
in quality was immediately apparent. Their 1990 performance,
recorded in the Italian Institute in Budapest, is consistently
outstanding and particularly magnificent in the second movement
andante. Another version
worthy of consideration is the acclaimed reading by the Borodin
Quartet with pianist Elizo Virzaladze,
recorded at the Snape Maltings
Concert Hall in Suffolk in November 1990. This double-set on
the Warner Classics Ultima label at
super budget price is amazing value and is generously coupled
with Brahms’s three String Quartets op. 51/1, 51/2 and 64.
This new release from MDG Gold,
already hampered by poor acoustics and meagre value, is not
in the same league as the best competitors.
Michael
Cookson
Andreas 
