Franz Schubert: Quintet/Symphony No.5

One of the great recordings of ANYTHING

Schubert's C Major Quintet (for string quartet with a second cello part added), one of the greatest works of chamber music ever composed, is given one of the greatest performances on record here. The lineup of players is impressive: Isaac Stern and Alexander Schneider (of the Budapest Quartet), violins: Milton Katims, viola: Pablo Casals and Paul Tortelier, cellos. This recording appears to be an amalgam of two performances at the Prades Festival on July 1 and 2, 1952.

There are two classes of recordings of string quartets and quintets; the first are performed by professional string quartets (like the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Emerson) (with an added player when needed); the second are performed by individual soloists who come together for a sort of "superstar" ensemble, but who do not play regularly together. (Actually there is a third category, superstars who come together to FORM an ensemble for a longer term, such as the Istomin-Stern-Rose trio. These people also retain their identity as soloists, however.) Recordings by professional quartets are almost always polished masterpieces of precision ensemble playing, because the players have worked for years to get a blended sound and to speak as one voice. The second type of recording, while excellent in terms of the individual playing, usually does not sound as homogeneous as the first type, because the players aren't used to each other. The overall result can be unsatisfying.

Happily, that is not the case with this "superstar" group. True, the ensemble precision is not perfect, partly because at least one of these performances was "live", and there are a few technical glitches. But these are insignificant in light of the sheer power of the performance, brought about by five top-rank players united in a pure love for the music and giving it all they had!

I find this performance to have a restless, searching quality that keeps me on the edge of my seat. It is also the only recording of classical music that has brought me to tears--it's that intense. Listen, for example, to the middle section of the slow movement of the Quintet. You may hear all the loneliness and heartache that Schubert had accumulated in his short life to that time, with nothing held back. These players have found the key to unlock those feelings.

The Schubert Symphony No. 5 is included in another Prades Festival performance conducted by Casals. I bought this CD, however, for the Quintet, and while the recording of the symphony is fine enough, I don't come back to it like I do the quintet.

The recorded mono sound is acceptable on both, but not great. It does not detract from my enjoyment of the music, and I hope it doesn't for you either.

There are many fine recordings available of this Quintet, and others have justly mentioned the Hollywood String Quartet's recording. This one, however, has some kind of intensity not found in many of the others. It would be worth your while to experience it. March 9, 2008

Unmatched excellence

I became familiar with this extraordinary piece of music--very possibly the single best work ever written for a string quintet--when I was 12 or so, and have loved it ever since.

While my introduction came through a live performance, I was soon listening to this very recording (by Columbia Masterworks) of the Casals Festival at Prades in July 1952 given by Isaac Stern, Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims, the incomparable Pablo Casals and Paul Tortelier.

Of course that recording, on a 32 rpm phonograph, is still in my collection. But it is so well-used that I am unsure whether the grooves are still in tact. Furthermore, I haven't heard this performance for years, given the obsolesence of 32 LPs.

I was overjoyed recently to find the recording on CD, which I thought simply wasn't available.

Now, I own three recordings of this Schubert quintet, including my original LP and this CD. (The third, also on CD, is a recording of Yo Yo Ma.)

There is no doubt about it. Casals in 1952 gave an extraordinary delivery of this extraordinary work.

If you like chamber music, strong quintets, and Schubert, you owe yourself the pleasure of owning this amazing CD. Mono schmono. The sound these artists produced exceeds the quality of any other version of this piece I've ever heard.

And that's saying something. July 15, 2006

Wow!

There are few chamber recordings that can touch this extraordinary work. This is one that I just cannot recommend highly enough. Casals was a cellist of profound sensitivity and supreme talent who enjoyed a deep understanding of Schubert's poetic music and with this, perhaps one of the most treasured of all of Schubert's chamber works, his pure, joyful affection is obvious.

One reviewer has mentioned that some of the playing is a little scrappy in parts - perhaps so, but this is more than made up for in the musicians' emotional investment and the very special rapport they clearly have with each other.

While the Quintet is really the highlight of the CD, the exuberant and youthful performance of the 5th Symphony is well worth a listen. Under Casals' direction, the music is full of all the energy and optimism that Schubert invested when he composed it at the tender age of nineteen! This is in deliberate contrast to the Quintet which was completed only about a month before his premature death at the age of 32 and is a far more introverted, soul-searching piece of work. Listening to this you feel he must have been aware of his approaching end and this music is his way of coming to terms with its inevitability. Stretches of exquisite calm are followed by bursts of heartfelt anguish and questioning (note particularly the sublime second movement). The quintet was composed roughly around the same time that Beethoven was writing his monumental late string quartets, and though the quintet arguably does not share the majestic breadth and scale of those mighty works, there is a similar sense of intimacy, as though we are eavesdropping on the innermost thoughts of a genius as he grapples with the terrible mystery of death and notions of God. In fact, whether you believe in God or not, this, like Beethoven's late quartets, comes pretty damn close to the idea.

Bear in mind this is a mono recording from 1952, but even so, the sheer emotional power of the playing, and of the music itself, makes any such consideration pointless. You will not be able to listen to it enough.

Quite rightly, this is one of the most celebrated and best loved chamber music recordings of all time, not just of Schubert's, but of any composer's music. If you do not already have this in your collection, don't even think about it. Buy it. June 30, 2006

Big names thrown together.

This is a recording of the Schubert quintet played by big name musicians like Casals, and Sasha Schneider. It has gotten very good reviews too. Unfortunately I don't find the playing that golden, particularly in the ensemble of the music which is quite rough and tumble. These musicians are like a pick-up group, and they haven't played together all that much. So they are cautious, adjusting to each other as the music unfolds. I think there are much better Schubert quintets elsewhere, for example, the Hollywood quartet with Alvin Dinkin, or the Emerson quartet with Rostropovich. Just to name two.

This CD deserves 3 and a half stars. But there's no such thing. So I gave it 4 stars. July 16, 2003

YUM!

Pablo Casals shines in this Shubert Quintet!
Try 'Allegreto' first to clean your ears; the recording is so so (I believe it was recorded in 1953), mono and a little thick- like a telephone bandpass-, but the emotion is still intact.

I tried several other versions of the same piece, but did not find the coherence and ensemble this interpretation demonstrates. A must have (buy it two times in case you loose one!). February 21, 2002

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