 Franz Schubert Here's your second choice for a great recording of Schubert's Quintet in C, which is one of his two or three greatest chamber works, and one of the great masterpieces of chamber music. Now, don't get all hot under the collar, I'm no expert on classical music, but I knows what I likes. I likes the chamber music, on account of it's so purty, and I especially likes the Schubert on account of his melodies are so striking. Sometimes I describe him as "the Paul McCartney of classical music," but that's confusing, because Schubert never even in his limper moments could have conceived of "Loup (1st Indian on the Moon)," and furthermore Sir Paul's own forays into classical music are strikingly unmelodic compared to his pop songs. Schubert in song as well as chamber and orchestral music was above all a melodist, and that's why his music remains so accessible to me. I approach him as I do a pop songwriter – perhaps a better description would be "the Paul Williams of classical music" ? But then, Schubert was never on "The Muppet Show," so scratch that. Schubert's primary gift was songwriting (he wrote "Ave Maria," which is probably the best song ever written, if you ask me; I mean, besides "Pass the Dutchie"), and his relentless tunefulness pervades his larger works as well. What I like about the chamber music is that it is somewhere between the intimacy of his songs and the seriousness of his symphonies – the quartets and quintets (and octet) are relaxing but not background music. They give you much pleasure and reward greater attention paid, and details emerge with repeated listens. The Trout Quintet is the ultimate piece of chamber music in my opinion (best recording being on Sony with Emanuel Ax and friends), but the Quintet in C is right up there – a bit more dramatic, less playful, and very much as melodic. Almost every moment is stirring and each passage develops dynamically and with a wealth of ear candy for the middlebrows like myself whose ADD gets in the way of appreciating anything that requires too much brain power. The C-major Quintet is given the instrumentation of a standard string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello), with the addition of a second cello, giving the sound a weight and substance that is uncommonly striking. This performance is very good, though not quite as spectacular as the Alban Berg Quartet version with Heinrich Schiff. The Emerson String Quartet recorded this in 1992 with übercellist Rostropovich, and it's a fantastic, full-blooded performance, though to my ears, a touch cold in parts, a bit overly studied. Sometimes the very best names are too overwhelming for certain pieces, and I'd say that the Emerson's Schubert lacks a certain delicacy. However, it's a virtually flawless recording – I suppose I just like the Alban Berg Quartet version so much that this one suffers from my personal bias. Certainly you couldn't do much better – if the other is not handy, this one is absolutely recommendable. If you really want the best, go with the other (it's in the EMI Great Recordings of the Century line), but this DG release is excellent, and many critics prefer it strongly to all others. Hm, so much hemming and hawing … okay, I'll just admit it, I still don't trust the Russians. Didn't you see The Day After?!?!?!
Review by Wimpsom Turl |