Search - Franz Schubert, James van Denmark, Cleveland Quartet :: SCHUBERT ~ Forellenquintett Op. 114 ~ "The Trout" and "La Truite"

Brendel's first recording of the "Trout" - a good reading, b

Discophage | France | 09/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Given Alfred Brendel's credentials as a Schubert interpreter, it is almost surprising that he waited as late as 1977 to commit his first "Trout" quintet to disc, with members of the Cleveland Quartet and double bassist James van Demark. It was generally warmly received on its first publication and subsequent reappearance, in 1983, among the very first batch of CDs to be commercially released, and it has now been reissued on "The Originals" collection - still with no filler. While it was customary in the early days of CD to transfer LPs as (short as) they were to the new medium and claim a hefty amount of the music-lover's hard-bucks in exchange (another example being Richter's Trout with the Borodin Quartet from 1980 on EMI), much water has flowed under the bridges since. Richter's version has been reissued in a budget line with his Wanderer Fantasy as a bonus (see my comment: Schubert: "Trout" Quintet, "Wanderer" Fantasy, etc.), the Cleveland Quartet made their second recording of the "Trout" with pianist John O'Connor for Telarc in 1990 (with the bonus of the 13th quartet: Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet "Trout"/Quartet In A Minor), and five years later Brendel went on to record his new version with a string band led by Thomas Zehetmair, coupled with a Mozart piano quartet (Schubert: Trout quintet/Mozart: Piano Quartet In G Minor): I haven't heard it yet but it was enthusiastically received by every critic I have read. So Brendel's early version would have to be outstandingly good or outstandingly cheap (and preferably both) to warrant buying a miserly-timed 38:32 CD (not surprisingly the total timing appears nowhere on the CD or booklet).



The opening "Allegro vivace", played with its repeat, is taken at a no-nonsense, unhurried tempo, very similar to Richter-Borodin's or Serkin-Marlboro's (Schubert: Piano Quintet "Trout"; Mozart: Clarinet Quintet), allowing the music's amiability to come out. The accents are mellow but the musicians display plenty of muscularity when needed. However, the recording balance is somewhat slanted in favor of the piano. Brendel's touch is usually crisp and clear but with occasional over-pedaling which blurs some details. The violin's phrasings have charm but I have heard more lyrical cello and viola interplay in the passage starting at 1:45.



Again in the "Andante" the tempo is close to Serkin's with his Marlboro partners, striking a fine balance between the urgency of Badura-Skoda (see my review of In The Mirror of Time Schubert "Trout" quintet), Ax-Ma (Schubert: Quintet, Op. 114 "The Trout" / Sonata, D. 821 "Arpeggione") or Archibudelli (Schubert: Trout Quintet; Arpeggione & Notturno) and the ample phrasings of Richter-Borodin or Frank Glazer with the Fine Arts Quartet in 1962 (Boston Skyline Schubert: Trout Quintet/Death and the Maiden Quartet); the deeply moving viola and cello cantilena starting at 1:23 elicits a wistful eloquence. The Scherzo is lively and exuberant (it raised some critic's eyebrows back in 78, although Curzon in his oft-cited 1957 recording with members of the Vienna Octet (Schubert: Trout Quintet; Death and the Maiden) had taken it faster - and since then it has been driven still harder, for instance by Ax-Ma or Archibudelli), with violin tone slightly wiry but not obtrusively so; the middle trio is taken at an imperceptibly relaxed tempo, enabling it to show off its charms without the kind of mawkishness that mars the above mentioned Curzon-Vienna Octet. Why did the (uncredited) producer let the tentative entry of the 1st violin at the very beginning of the "Trout" theme pass without editing eludes me, but the said theme then gently flows without coyness; the ensuing variations flow into one another without pause and with very organic tempo relationships; in the first variation the piano is very much at the front and the violin trills don't register as much as with others, the 3rd variation is lively with a busy piano, and yet in the subsequent variation the piano doesn't have as much Beethovenian power as with others (Serkin or Frank Glazer come to mind). The movement ends with a spirited and genial coda, not rushed but full of zest and with plenty of rhythmic bounce, leading to a forward-moving finale which exudes a feeling of insouciant cheerfulness; it is actually one of the fastest I've heard but it doesn't feeling hard-driven, thanks to very organic rubato and fine dynamic shadings.



An outstanding reading, then? Maybe not, if only because of the slightly overbearing forward placement of the piano and the spots where string tone lacks fullness, but nonetheless a fine one, not radical in approach as some of those mentioned above (to which one may add Adès and the Belcea Quartet members on EMI: Adès: Piano Quintet; Schubert: "Trout Quintet") but, very much like Serkin's or Richter's, marked by its middle-of-the-road, no-nonsense interpretive options. Now you need to find it at an outstandingly appealing price!

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Enjoyable

King Lemuel | Puyallup, WA | 04/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have a half ton of Brendel's music on good ol fashioned vinyl including a 3 lp boxed set of Schubert's 8 impromptus and the Wanderer Fantasy but have never heard the Trout before. Yesterday and today I visited the Brendel wing at Rhapsody and came accross the Trout.



So, I cannot give you a critical review comparing and contrasting this version with that, etc. I can give a first impression. I just know I do not have to listen to 20 renditions in order to enjoy what I am now hearing! Brendel is one of the premier pianists of the 20th century and if this is not an "A" game performance as Tiger Woods would describe, his B game is better than most! I will just sit here, fat dumb, and happy, and enjoy the damn music. Brendel's playing as well as the other members of the quintet is very enjoyable.



Thank God for online music services! Rhapsody recently posted Brendel's live Beethoven 5 concertos from 1983, his mostly complete Mozart Concertos, and several other works. When I listen to Brendel or Barenboim or some other classical great and then read some of the reviews here at Amazon, I wonder if we are spining the same tunes. Many of the reviews seem to be personality driven with either likes or dislikes based upon the name(s) and not the performance. I would like to put some of these critics under the gun and give them a blind taste test and see if they really know their stuff. It is amazing how pretentious some people are in their reviews when they cannot even play the C major scale much less a gazoo.



Anyway! Enough of this semi ranting. Rhapsody offers a great opportunity to try before you buy."

Fine Schubert Trout Quintet Courtesy of Alfred Brendel and C

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 07/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Reissued as one of The Originals: Legendary Recordings from the Philips Classics Catalog, Alfred Brendel's 1977 recording of Schubert's "Trout" Piano Quintet with members of the Cleveland Quartet (Donald Weilerstein on violin, Martha Strongin Katz on viola, Paul Katz on cello) and James van Denmark on double bass, has long been cited among the better recordings of this venerable work. It is a distinction that still holds up, even though I have heard other, more recent, and better, recordings such as the brand new one featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman and violinist Pinchas Zuckerman. What may be most notable about this recording is Brendel's superb, sympathetic interpretation of Schubert's score for the piano; not surprising to say the least since he is long-recognized as one of our finest interpreters of Schubert's piano literature. And yet, Brendel's exquisite interpretation is well-matched by subtle, refined music making from his Cleveland Quartet colleagues and James van Denmark. While this CD - whose sound quality has been enhanced through the latest 24 bit digital remastering from Philips - may no longer be regarded as one of the primary choices of this popular Schubert work, it will still be quite appealing to long-time admirers of Schubert, Alfred Brendel and the Cleveland Quartet.

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