Schubert: Quintet in C, d. 956 / Symphony No.5

Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Pablo Casals (Conductor, Performer), Prades Festival Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Pablo Casals
• Orchestra: Prades Festival Orchestra
• Conductor: Pablo Casals
• Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
• Audio CD (February 22, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029LC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,817 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great recordings of ANYTHING, March 8, 2008

By 

Christopher Bonds - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schubert: Quintet in C, d. 956 / Symphony No.5 (Audio CD)

Schubert's C Major Quintet (for string quartet with a second cello part added), one of the greatest works of chamber music ever composed, is given one of the greatest performances on record here. The lineup of players is impressive: Isaac Stern and Alexander Schneider (of the Budapest Quartet), violins: Milton Katims, viola: Pablo Casals and Paul Tortelier, cellos. This recording appears to be an amalgam of two performances at the Prades Festival on July 1 and 2, 1952.

There are two classes of recordings of string quartets and quintets; the first are performed by professional string quartets (like the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Emerson) (with an added player when needed); the second are performed by individual soloists who come together for a sort of "superstar" ensemble, but who do not play regularly together. (Actually there is a third category, superstars who come together to FORM an ensemble for a longer term, such as the Istomin-Stern-Rose trio. These people also retain their identity as soloists, however.) Recordings by professional quartets are almost always polished masterpieces of precision ensemble playing, because the players have worked for years to get a blended sound and to speak as one voice. The second type of recording, while excellent in terms of the individual playing, usually does not sound as homogeneous as the first type, because the players aren't used to each other. The overall result can be unsatisfying.

Happily, that is not the case with this "superstar" group. True, the ensemble precision is not perfect, partly because at least one of these performances was "live", and there are a few technical glitches. But these are insignificant in light of the sheer power of the performance, brought about by five top-rank players united in a pure love for the music and giving it all they had!

I find this performance to have a restless, searching quality that keeps me on the edge of my seat. It is also the only recording of classical music that has brought me to tears--it's that intense. Listen, for example, to the middle section of the slow movement of the Quintet. You may hear all the loneliness and heartache that Schubert had accumulated in his short life to that time, with nothing held back. These players have found the key to unlock those feelings.

The Schubert Symphony No. 5 is included in another Prades Festival performance conducted by Casals. I bought this CD, however, for the Quintet, and while the recording of the symphony is fine enough, I don't come back to it like I do the quintet.

The recorded mono sound is acceptable on both, but not great. It does not detract from my enjoyment of the music, and I hope it doesn't for you either.

There are many fine recordings available of this Quintet, and others have justly mentioned the Hollywood String Quartet's recording. This one, however, has some kind of intensity not found in many of the others. It would be worth your while to experience it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound Schubert, October 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Schubert: Quintet in C, d. 956 / Symphony No.5 (Audio CD)

This, with the Casals version on Phillips with the Vegh Qaurtet, is my favorite version of the Schubert Quintet in C. It's hard to choose between them. In both Casals seems to have inspired his colleagues--all superb musicians--to unprecedented heights of musical expression. Both versions are suffused with fire and understanding. They differ in sound: the Phillips is very round and too reverberant; the Sony is lean and crisp and too thin. Maybe someone could cross them someday.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my two favorite recordings of this work., December 17, 1999

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: Quintet in C, d. 956 / Symphony No.5 (Audio CD)

I agree with the previous reviewer that this is a magnificent recording. My only difference is what the other greatest recording of the other greatest version is. I nominate the version by the Hollywood String Quartet.

Both of these recordings deserve to be in the collection of any lover of chamber music who believes, as I do, that the true golden of chamber music was in the 1950's (and also in the 1930's).

This piece was considered by George Steiner to be equivalent to a proof of the existence of God. While I'm not sure I could go that far, it is most surely proof of the indominable spirit of the composer.

Sample the Casals and the Hollywood Quartet versions. You'll probably be like me and buy both versions.