Dvorak: The Complete String Quintets

Antonin Dvorak (Performer), Emil Maas (Performer), Kunio Tsuchiya (Performer), Dietrich Gerhard (Performer), Heinrich Majowski (Orchestra), Alfred Malecek (Artist), Rudolf Hartmann (Artist), Rainer Zepperitz (Artist), Peter Steiner (Artist), Giusto Cappone (Artist), Ferdinand Mezger (Artist), Stephen Bishop Kovacevich (Artist), Berlin Philharmonic Octet (Artist)

Product Details

• Performer: Antonin Dvorak, Emil Maas, Kunio Tsuchiya, Dietrich Gerhard
• Orchestra: Heinrich Majowski
• Audio CD (January 12, 1999)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000HY8J
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,668 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The performances and recordings disappoint, December 18, 2000

By	Harvey J. Schugar (Piscataway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This inexpensive two CD set presents four wonderful Dvorak quintets and one sextet. I own the original Philips LP performances of the piano quintet and a late string quintet. The string players did not attain those idiomatic Czech cross rhythms and phrasing required for my fullest listening pleasure. The fine piano performance of Stephen Kovacevich (he was known as Stephen Bishop on the LP) was closer to this ideal. Unfortunately, serious sonic flaws of the LP persist on the CD. The upper register of the violins remains thin and unpleasant, and the balance between the strings and piano levels in the opus 81 quintet is not good. The piano sound is far too dominant. My suggestion is to look elsewhere for recordings that better capture these beauties of Dvorak.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You'll get what you pay for--a letdown, April 9, 2004

By	klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Philips' "twofer" CD releases include some genuine bargains, classic performances at budget prices, such as Colin Davis' 1966 "Messiah." At first glance this compilation seems like a contender, with two and a half hours of some of Dvorak's most beautiful chamber music, along with lesser-known but equally worthy works, performed by an ensemble with a famous name, along with a distinguished guest artist, pianist Stephen Kovacevich.

In the event, only Kovacevich's beautifully shaped contribution to the Piano Quintet, Op. 81 lives up to expectations. The other performances are uniformly marked by scrappy, out-of-tune playing and thin, shrill tone from the members of the Berlin Philharmonic Octet. It's hard to tell how much of the acoustic stems from the actual performances, how much from the possibly poor sound of the original analog recording, and how much might be due to the CD transfer. It doesn't really matter. Better, if more expensive, versions of all of these pieces are available on CD, particularly of the delightful Quintet in E-flat and Piano Quintet. Spend a little more and get performances that will stand the test of time, as these have not.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Op. 1 is a wonderful work, performly wonderfully, February 4, 1999

By	mijcar - See all my reviews

I first heard this version of the Sextet and Quintet in a, op. 1, years ago on vinyl. I immediately fell in love with both pieces. The Op. 1 Quintet is a work that shows the depths of Dvorak's chamber ability. It is not just a work that foreshadows Dvorak's great late string quartets, but one that stands alone, with passionate slow passages that match Schubert's late string quartets, but a vocabulary totally of Dvorak's own.

I have not yet heard the interpretation of the other two sextets offered here, but as interpeters of Dvorak, the Berlin Philharmonic Octet members have proven themselves completely on the first two pieces. The pieces themselves are among Dvorak's best compositions, wonderfully moody and completely accessible.

As a two-for-oner, this set would be a must have.