Search - Johannes Brahms, Maurizio Pollini :: Brahms: Klavierquintett Op. 34

Back in print but limited playing time

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 06/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For a $16 list price you don't get much on this CD -- 43 minutes of the Brahms piano quintet, perhaps his best piece of chamber music in a performance critics have hailed for many years. Still, bringing this back with no filler is a taxing proposition. I own an older version of the CD. The performance is all critics have said but the sound (from 1980) was not the best. There was a cramped sound stage with the piano tone far from the best of its time. Perhaps this is improved on the reissue. That said, this remains one of the better performances of this remarkable music, having received critical and public accaliam on both sides of the Atlantic for two decades. But if you buy Jando's discount version on Naxos you get a version the Penguin Guide recommended that is in better sound and has the additional bonus of containing the Robert Schumann piano quintet. So this remains one of the better performances but it can no longer be a five star selection in light of time and competition."

Amazingly, no room for improvement except in sonics

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pollini has the inexplicable ability to make you feel that his performance is irreducibly perfect and needs no comparison with anybody else's. That's true of his Chopin and just as true here, despite the wiry string sound and less-than-beautiful piano.



Piano trios, quartets, and quintets are notoriously hard to record. String instruments are tricky to begin with because of their high overtones, and so is the piano, because it can sound hard and glassy. Comvining the two is often the worst of both worlds--the violins sound screechy and weak, the piano too percussive and overbearing.



One recording that I turn to for sheer beauty of sound is the Tokyo Quartet with Barry Douglas on RCA, and their reading is musically fine as well. But Pollini and the Quartetto Italiano are a league higher in musicianship--at least on the piano side--and Pollini inspires a sense of urgency that is all to the good with Brahms. Five stars, without a doubt."

Excellent Performance

Darryl Roberson | Dallas, Texas | 11/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've always admired this performance, but like the reviewer below, have had problems with the sound. The good news is that it was just released in Europe on the mid-priced DG Originals label. The piano sounds great, the strings a little thin in comparison, but overall the disc is a much better deal now."