Schubert Piano Quintet The Trout Melos

The Wanderers are among the elite piano, violin and cello combinations, and these great works are signature pieces: they take their name from the Schubert song and these pieces are cornerstones of their repertoire [previously available separately].

Anne-Sophie Mutter, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of her professional debut last year, and Daniil Trifonov, now in his mid-twenties, join forces with three young string-playing alumni of the Mutter Foundation for a new release on DG. The all-Schubert album features the composer’s Piano Quintet in A Major, known as the Trout Quintet; Notturno in E-flat Major, a sublime late work for violin, cello and piano; and arrangements of the songs “Ständchen” and “Ave Maria” for violin and piano.

Anne-Sophie Mutter, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of her professional debut last year, and Daniil Trifonov, now in his mid-twenties, join forces with three young string-playing alumni of the Mutter Foundation for a new release on DG. The all-Schubert album features the composer’s Piano Quintet in A Major, known as the Trout Quintet; Notturno in E-flat Major, a sublime late work for violin, cello and piano; and arrangements of the songs “Ständchen” and “Ave Maria” for violin and piano.

Young pianist Martin Helmchen again shows his affinity for Schubert in this magnificent reading of the Trout Quintet. There are currently 90 listings of the Trout Quintet for the unusual combination of piano, string trio, and double bass. What distinguishes this one from most of the other eighty-nine is the coolly accomplished, no-nonsense approach of Helmchen and his mates. This is one of the most smoothly articulated accounts I have ever heard of this well-loved work. In the opening movement, marked Allegro vivace, the blend of the strings is ideal, especially in the pianissimo passages, when they are virtually muted. The tone of Tetzlaff’s violin at this moment is indescribably beautiful.

The playing of the Takács Quartet tends to inspire superlatives: "The Takács Quartet is universally recognized as one of the world's finest string quartets," "The Takács might play this repertoire[the Beethoven quartets] better than any quartet of the past or present," "They are currently the greatest string quartet in the world." The group's international performances have continued to bring accolades, and recordings have been recognized with numerous awards.

The Alban Berg Quartet was founded in 1971 and within a decade was established as one of the finest string quartets in the world. It was known for its large recorded sets of the complete quartets of many masters of the genre. Its founding members were all part of a Viennese chamber orchestra, who, while getting together to play chamber music, discovered the musical rapport essential to founding a great quartet.

The works of Schubert are central to Elisabeth Leonskaja's repertoire - and her interpretations of his work have been described as "essential". Born in the Soviet Union, where her greatest mentor was Sviatoslav Richter, she moved in 1978 to Vienna. She has said that: "In Schubert, there are things that any average Viennese person will understand better than I do … I, though, have to think about them carefully. In Schubert, profound matters are expressed with a lightness of touch."

Artur Schnabel, identified above all with the music of Beethoven, was also a supreme interpreter of Schubert. Initially trained in Vienna, he played a crucial role in advocating the Austrian composer’s piano music at a time when such masterworks as the late sonatas enjoyed surprisingly little currency. By the time he started making these recordings, in the early 1930s, Schnabel was already a mature artist, and their essential lyricism is complemented by his characteristic rhythmic vitality and intellectual rigour. Newly remastered from original sources, these historic interpretations now benefit from audio quality of unprecedented truth and immediacy.