Customer Reviews

String Quintet in C

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Composed during the last few months of his short life, Schuberts' String Quintet in C major, D. 956, Opus 163, is a sublime, inexhaustible work of chamber music. Scored for two violins, viola, and two cellos, the Quintet has received many excellent recordings over the years. Several recordings of the Quintet by famous ensembles and cellists have received a great deal of attention with many insightful reviews by music lovers here on Amazon. I was surprised to see that this recent (2008) recording of the Quintet on EMI Virgin Classics by the Artemis String Quartet with cellist Truls Mork has not to date attracted any Amazon reviews. The recording deserves better. It is a first-rate, musically sensitive performance in a crowded field. Founder in the 1990s, the Artemis Quartet reorganized in 2005 with Natalia Prischepenko and Gregor Sigl, violins, Friedemann Weigle, viola, and Eckart Runge, cello. This recording was made following a performance at the Saltzburg Festival in 2007. The ensemble has also made recording of the Beethoven String Quartets and a recording of the Schumann Quintet with pianist Lief Ove Adnes.

In addition to the Quintet, the recording includes Schubert's Quartet in c minor, D. 703, known in its single movement as the Quartettsatz. The rare and lovely fragment of the second movement that Schubert began also is performed.

Schubert's great Quintet will bear many musical interpretations. There is a range of readings from the angular, representing the tragic, dramatic, and death-haunted character of much of the music to the lyrical. The review of the Artemis recording in Classics Online finds that it takes a "fresh view of the work" because it emphasizes both the dramatic elements of the music as well as the contrasting lyricism. I agree but think that the singing, romantic elements predominate. I have heard many readings of this work, live and in recordings, and I loved this CD. The five musicians play thoughtfully and closely together as an ensemble with lovely relationships among the parts, and agreement in volume, tempo, and voicing. The musicianship is of a high order. It is possible to follow each instrumental voice in this reading. Truls Mork adds a great deal with the second cello part without being obtrusive.

In the lengthy opening movement, "allegro non troppo" the ensemble captures both the jagged, passionate opening theme but emphasizes the long lyrical theme flowing in the middle and lower strings with its frequent pizzicato accompaniment. This is a singing reading, but it captures the feeling of a composer who had known deep sadness and tragedy. The second movement, Adagio, also is taken at a flowing tempo, with the slow reflective outer sections in E major counterbalanced by an intense, angry middle section in f minor (beginning at about 4:20). Upon the return of the peaceful E major theme, there is a lovely poignant duet here between Mork's cello and the first violin. The opening theme of the third movement, Scherzo, is played loudly on open strings and has almost a foot-stomping quality. The ensemble plays the contrasting slow and melancholy trio in a withdrawn, introspective manner. The finale of the piece -- marked Allegretto -- is taken slower in this performance than in some others. It gives the movement as a whole a considerably more reflective character. The Hungarian, dance-like qualities of the movement come through, and the movement takes wings with the concluding Presto and the famous large two chords that conclude the Quintet.

The Artemis Quartet give the Quartettsatz a similar type of romantic, lyrical reading. This early work, much like Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony is complete in itself. It contrasts tragic and dramatic music with music of lyricism, and then a hauntingly fluttering theme. Schubert began a lyrical slow movement but broke it off after about two minutes. It is a delight to hear the Quartettsatz and the discarded slow movement performed by the Artemis Quartet.

Every listener to classical music needs to get to know Schubert's Quintet. Although ignored for years after its composition, it ranks with Beethoven's string quartets as among the greatest works of chamber music ever composed. This performance by the Artemis Quartet and Mork is an outstanding choice for those listeners new to the work. Listeners who have their own treasured version of the Quintet will also enjoy it. The performance of the Quartettsatz gives this CD special appeal.

Total time: 62:50


Robin Friedman