BaL 14.12.19/11.4.20 - Schubert Piano Quintet in A major "The Trout"

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library: David Owen Norris joins Andrew to explore recordings of Schubert's Trout Quintet
The Trout Quintet is Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667. It was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old. Its joie de vivre and infectious melodies have made this piece one of the treasure of the chamber music repertoire. Rather than the usual piano quintet line-up of piano and string quartet, the Trout Quintet is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass.

Available versions


Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble *
Alban Berg Quartett, Elisabeth Leonskaja
Álvarez Quartet, Boguslaw Furtok, Carmen Pianzzini
Amadeus Quartet, Emil Gilels, Rainer Zepperitz
Amadeus Quartet, Hephzibah Menuhin, J. Edward Merritt
Amati Ensemble *
Anima Eterna Brugge, Jos Van Immerseel
Apollo Ensemble
L'Archibudelli, Anner Bylsma, Jos van Immerseel
Arion Trio, Claudio Veress, Andreas Cincera
Atlantis Ensemble, Penelope Crawford *
Helen Ayres, David Campbell, Jacqueline Cronin, Timothy Nankervis, Anna Goldsworthy *
Barylli Quartet, Otto Ruhm, Paul Badura-Skoda *
Beaux Arts Trio, Georg Maximilian Hörtnagel *
Belcea Quartet, Corin Long, Thomas Adès *
Borodin Quartet, Sviatoslav Richter
Budapest String Quartet, Artur Balsam
Budapest String Quartet, Georges Moleau, Mieczyslaw Horszowski
Budapest String Quartet, George Szell
Canadian Chamber Ensemble
Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Aloïs Posch Frank Braley *
Carmina Quartett, Kyoko Tabe, Petru Iuga
Guillaume Chilemme, Nathanaël Gouin, Marie Chilemme, Astrid Siranossian, Émilie Legrand
Cleveland Quartet, Alfred Brendel
Cleveland Quartet, John O'Conor, James Vandermark
Festival Quartet *
Pamela Frank, Rebecca Young, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Emanuel Ax *
Thomas Füri, Christoph Schiller, Thomas Demenga, Martin Humpert, Karl Engel *
Avet Gabrielian, Sergey Zacharovich Aslamazian, Abram Dyakov, Mikhail Terian, Josif Gertovich *
Daniel Gaede, Izumi Goto, Karl Suske, Jürnjacob Timm, Dorin Marc
Gewandhausquartett Leipzig, Peter Rösel *
Szymon Goldberg, Nikolai Graudan, Stuart Sankey, Victor Babin, William Primrose
Arthur Grumiaux, Jacques Cazauran, Eva Czako, Georges Janzer, Ingrid Haebler *
Guarneri Quartet, Emanuel Ax *
Hagen Quartet, Alois Posch, András Schiff
Andreas Hartmann, Liv Bartels, Anna Niebuhr, Christopher Beuchert, Rolf-Dieter Arens
Hausmusik, Cyril Huvé, Chi-chi Nwanoku *
Henschel Quartet, Gerold Huber, Alexandra Hengstebeck
Gerhart Hetzel, James Levine, Alois Posch, Georg Faust, Wolfram Christ
Thomas Albertus Imberger, Martin Ortner, Heidi Litschauer, Brita Burgschwendtner, Jorg Demus (SACD)
Yossif Ivanov, Beatrice Muthelet, Ophélie Gaillard, Stephane Logerot, Delphine Bardin
Juilliard Quartet, Claudio Arrau, Julius Levine
Jean François Heisser, Kocian Quartet members, Prazák, Jirí Hudec
Kodály Quartet, Jenö Jandó, Istvan Toth
Rudolf Koeckert, Christoph Eschenbach, Josef Merz, Georg Maximilian Hörtnagel, Oskar Riedl *
Péter Komlós, Malcolm Frager, Géza Németh, Károly Botvay, Zoltán Tibay
Jaime Laredo, Rudolf Serkin, Philipp Naegele, Julius Levine, Leslie Parnas *
David Lefèvre, Christophe Gaugué, Guillaume Paoletti, Eckhard Rudolph, Nathalie Juchors
Leipziger Streichquartett, Christian Zacharias, Christian Ockert
Leopold String Trio, Paul Lewis, Graham Mitchell
Dame Moura Lympany, Principals of the London Symphony Orchestra *
Melos Ensemble of London
Münchner Klaviertrio, Alexander Rilling, Tilo Widenmeyer
Music Collection, Susan Alexander Max
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniil Trifonov, Roman Patkoló, Hwayoon Lee, Maximilian Hornung
Nash Ensemble
Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet *
Pascal String Quartet, Vlado Perlemuter
Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline Du Pré, Zubin Mehta (DVD)
Jan Pospichal, Wolfgang Klos, Wilfried Rehm, Ernst Weissensteiner, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Pro Arte Quartet, Gunnar Johansen, Ralph Hancock
Pro Arte Quartet, Artur Schnabel
Quatuor Ebène, Menahem Pressler
Ruggiero Ricci, Gary Karr, Mihaly Virizlay, Elyakim Taussig, Eberhard Klemmstein *
Rochester Chamber Players
Benjamin Schmid, Jan Vogler, Janne Saksala, Lars Anders Tomter, Antti Siirala *
Schubert Ensemble of London
Schubert Quartet, Jorg Demus
Silesian Chamber Soloists, Christoph Soldan
Soloists of Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Boris Berezovsky *
Karl Suske, Dietmar Hallmann, Jurnjakob Timm, Rainer Hucke, Peter Rösel *
Takács Quartet, Andreas Haefliger, Joseph Carver *
Takacs Quartet, Zoltan Kocsis *
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Zoltán Kocsis, Gábor Ormai, András Fejér, Ferenc Csontos
Christian Tetzlaff, Alois Posch, Martin Helmchen, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Antoine Tamestit (SACD)
Trio Chausson, Penelope Poincheval, Noriko Inoue
Trio Wanderer, Christophe Gaugué, Stephane Logerot
Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet
Vienna Octet, Clifford Curzon
Vienna Octet, Walter Panhofer
Vienna String Quartet, Michael Bladerer, Jasminka Stancul *
Maria Yudina, Vladimir Khomenko, Sergei Shirinski, Vadim Borisovsky, Dmitri Tsyganov, Fyodor Druzhinin
Thomas Zehetmair, Tabea Zimmermann, Richard Duven, Peter Riegelbauer, Alfred Brendel
Pinchas Zukerman, Jethro Marks, Amanda Forsyth, Joel Quarrington, Yefim Bronfman *

(* download only)

[vinteuil]

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... heroic work again, Alpie - many thanks.

It'll be fun to hear David O N - and to guess which quirky choices he might end up with...


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[Petrushka]

I just have the two Vienna Octet recordings and they will do me fine.

[mikealdren]

Hi Alpie,
you seem to have got a bit of a problem with line breaks on some of the listing with different versions on the same line

[CallMePaul]

I have the Nepomuk Quintet version as part of a 3CD set of a wide range of works for this combination and it is disappointing that it now appears to be download only. I tend to think of download only as equivalent to a deletion in the days when downloads were not available and it seems that many fine recordings of this piece have become download only. I hope that DON will be able to discuss a fair number of these recordings and I am sure that period instrument versions will get a good look-in.

[pastoralguy]

Many thanks indeed for all your hard work in compiling these lists, Alpie. It's much appreciated!

The 'Trout' is a great favourite of ours and we have many recordings but if we had to choose just one then we'd probably go for the DOMUS recording with Chi-chi Nwanoku on double bass since she's been a great friend to us over the years. (Virgin Classics).

The 'Trout' is pretty much indestructible so I'd be hard pressed to find one that wasn't at least acceptable. Alas, I'll be I. Milan for this one so I'll listen on the iplayer.

[akiralx]

A pity the 2011 Moritzburg Festival version on Sony Classical involving Antti Siirala, Jan Vogler et al is no longer available, it is really superb.

[LeMartinPecheur]

The 'Trout' is pretty much indestructible so I'd be hard pressed to find one that wasn't at least acceptable.

pg: I guess you're on to something here. "Indestructible" may also mean that pretty much any performance will do well enough. Or to put it another way, there's not much scope here for new versions bringing thrilling performance insights

Anyway, I started as a student in the 70s with the Jan Panenka/ Novak Quartet on a Classics for Pleasure LP but got rid of this after I got Curzon and the Vienna Octet. That has done me nicely for 40+ years though I have acquired just one CD version, Lubin and AAM Chamber Ens, and that was bought more for the song couplings. Versions of Schubert late quartets, trios, string quintet take up much more shelf-space!

Which may be a roundabout route to saying that I wish DON was doing a more complex work, but I'll listen with interest as it's DON

[richardfinegold]

The Marlboro recording with Rudolph Serkin was my first Chamber Music record, and still my favorite

[visualnickmos]

Who cannot be charmed by Schubert's chamber music? Amongst my versions of the Trout, I have The Lindseys, Curzon and the Wiener Oktett, and a great version on Naxos with Jeno Jando and the Kodaly Quartet.
Just such a pity that the brilliant DON will have to put up with pontless interuptions..... plus all the other negatives that dog BaL.

[vinteuil]

... I have acquired just one CD version, Lubin and AAM Chamber Ens, and that was bought more for the song couplings.

... many thanks for this reference : I need to investigate -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00000E4YV

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[vinteuil]

I have the Nepomuk Quintet version as part of a 3CD set of a wide range of works for this combination and it is disappointing that it now appears to be download only. .

... I agree. That Nepomuk threesome is lovely. I think it can still be found, but at a price...

I think it cost me less than a tenner back in 2012

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0085U0GY2

EDIT - on looking again, I see it is a 4 CD set - a foursome rather than a threesome...


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[Pulcinella]

The only recording I have (not my period ) is the BBC MM one, with R3 New Generation Artists Martin Helmchen, Alina Ibragimova, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra, and Luis Cabrera (rec 2006).

I suspect that this quintet is one of the ones featuring in the latest Alphabet Association puzzle (set by LMcD), but haven't got any further than that conjecture yet!

[MickyD]

... I agree. That Nepomuk threesome is lovely. I think it can still be found, but at a price...

I think it cost me less than a tenner back in 2012

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0085U0GY2

.

I think you guided me to that one at the time, Vints, and I have always been grateful to you for it. Indeed it is a well recorded set and all the more interesting that it contains much lesser known quintets. Some of them are real beauties, well worth discovering.

I also have the Steven Lubin L'Oiseau Lyre disc and find it very agreeable, with the canny coupling of the Trout song and eight others, with John Mark Ainsley in fine voice.

[silvestrione]

A small point, but I think you'll find that the Ades version is with (members of) the Belcea Quartet, and not the Arditti. The latter played in the Ades Piano Quintet on the original release.