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With his Op. 44 quintet from 1842, Robert Schumann
transformed the constellation of piano and string
quartet from one that just served as a showcase for the
pianist into a true chamber ensemble. Following his
example, Brahms and Dvořak produced their own
masterly quintets, and during the 20th century
composers as diverse as Elgar, Faure and Shostakovich
added to the short list of piano quintets that get regular
performances. On the rather longer list of rarely heard
quintets we find those recorded here, by pianist Bengt
Forsberg and a quartet of some of Sweden's finest string
players. Both works were composed during the 1910s,
and straddle in different ways the divide between postromanticism
and modernism.
Of French descent, the Russian composer Georgy
Catoire studied the piano in Moscow as well as Berlin
and it is primarily his piano music that is heard today.
With its original use of harmony and inventive rhythmic
structure, the quintet is nevertheless one of the most
seductive works in Catoire's output. Although better
known than Catoire, Polish-born Ignaz Friedman is
famous not for his compositions but as one of the
greatest pianists of the twentieth century, admired by
Rachmaninov as well as Horowitz. Written in 1918, his
Quintet in C minor is tuneful, but also dramatic, sombre
and melancholy at turns. This may be a reflection of the
ongoing war, but it has also been suggested that it was
inspired by the death of Friedman's father, an itinerant
Jewish musician, and that the theme of the third
movement, derived from Polish folk music, may be a
tribute to him.
Georgy Catoire (1861–1926)
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 28 24'21
1) I. Allegro moderato 8'18
2) II. Andante 8'32
3) III. Allegro con spirito e capriccioso 7'19
Ignaz Friedman (1882–1948)
Piano Quintet in C minor (1918) 36'58
4) I. Allegro maestoso 14'46
5) II. Larghetto, con somma espressione 13'46
6) III. Epilogue. Allegretto semplice 8'17
TT: 62'08 |
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