 Franz Schubert Schubert's C-major quintet, generaly regarded as "better" than the "Trout" quintet, is given a distinctive and immensely pleasurable reading by the Alban Berg Quartett, with Heinrich Schiff on the extra cello. Personally, I think the "Trout" is a more thrilling piece of music, but the C-major is certainly a motherfucking great thing itself. This performance was recorded in 1982 and remains the choicest rendition of the many out on the market. EMI chose well to include this in the Great Recordings of the Century series. The Berg Quartett plays with absolute precision and great feeling, bringing this chamber work to life like never before. There are several good recordings of the quintet available (it'd be hard to record a really bad one – as with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," some pieces of music just withstand any treatment), but you can't do better than this one, which is reasonably priced as well. For me, the key strengths of this particular performance are in the first five minutes of the first movement (dramatic and brilliant rendering of a very famous passage), and in the last two minutes of the third (exciting, inspiring melody played just beautifully). These parts just leap out at you and pummel you with greatness, like a legendarily accomplished catburglar. The players are forceful but tasteful, capturing the alternating lightness and seriousness with much aplomb. Schubert wrote this when he was 31, the same year he died, and anyone who is 31 or older should listen to it just to see how small your brain really is. Unlike, say, Jim Morrison, Schubert is one of those musicians whose early death truly boggles the mind at what might have come. As respected as Schubert is, he's never given the same stature as Mozart and Beethoven, though his genius was as singular as either of those guys. As with Haydn and Paul Williams, it seems Schubert gets dismissed for being so effortless with melody, and for not composing generally "big" works. This is the same pitfall that causes rock critics to overvalue big "important" albums like The Joshua Tree while ignoring albums that just feel great to listen to time and again, like the soundtrack to The Muppet Movie. For pure pleasure, I don't care what kind of music you most like, you can't go wrong with Schubert. This CD is like taking a long and luxurious bath in sensous, silky breastmilk. It makes me feel like I'm much smarter, wealthier, and more comfortable than I actually am – unlike, say, George Jones, who only reminds me of the way things really are. *Sigh* I wish my truck hadn't broken down on the way home from debtor's jail, but at least when I got home (to find my woman had left with my best friend and all my money), I still had this CD to play.
Review by Vice President Fancypants |