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| | Location: Home » Music Instruments » Quartets » Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81; Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 87 | August 22, 2008 |
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| Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81; Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 87 | 
 enlarge | Creators: Antonin Dvorak, Menahem Pressler, Emerson String Quartet, David Finckel, Lawrence Dutton, Eugene Drucker, Philip Setzer
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $10.21
You Save: $6.77 (40%)
Buy New/Used from $7.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 51871
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 439868
UPC: 028943986823
EAN: 0028943986823
ASIN: B000001GLU
Release Date: May 10, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Quintet For Piano, 2 Violins, Viola And Cello In A Major, Op. 81: Allegro, ma non tanto | | • | Quintet For Piano, 2 Violins, Viola And Cello In A Major, Op. 81: Dumka: Andante con moto | | • | Quintet For Piano, 2 Violins, Viola And Cello In A Major, Op. 81: Scherzo (Furiant): Molto vivace | | • | Quintet For Piano, 2 Violins, Viola And Cello In A Major, Op. 81: Finale: Allegro | | • | Piano Quartet in E flat, Op 87: I. Allegro con fuoco | | • | Piano Quartet in E flat, Op 87: II. Lento | | • | Piano Quartet in E flat, Op 87: III. Allegro moderato, grazioso | | • | Piano Quartet in E flat, Op 87: IV. Finale: Allegro ma non troppo |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
The venerable pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio joins the Emerson Quartet for two memorable performances. To the uncommon clarity and rhythmic drive of the string players, Menahem Pressler adds some of his own expansive personality. The mix works beautifully. You can hear every note in the scores, and everything is played with great expression and enough rhythmic tension to keep the music flowing. If you don't know these gorgeous works, this is a great way to make their introduction; if you do know them, this superbly recorded disc will bring you gratifying new perspectives. --Leslie Gerber
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Very fine performance December 11, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
These are deservedly popular works - perhaps too popular; I think the first movement of the A Major quintet was appropriated by some unmemorable Hollywood production. Younger listeners will be spared the unbidden mental associations attending the second (Dumka) movement which was plagiarised into a saccharine pop-song in the 'sixties.
Regardless of this nonsense, these are wonderful works stuffed full with all those very idiomatic Czech influences which characterised so much of Dvorak's writing when he was at his most musically confident. Ebullient and hummably tuneful, as previously has been suggested these works can be an excellent introduction to the world of chamber music, so often and erroneously regarded as being recondite and difficult to penetrate. If nothing else, this quintet and quartet put the lie to that.
Others have commented upon the recording quality - certainly Deutsche Grammophon can be very inconsistent in this regard. Perhaps this is something to do with production batches for the sound of my example is quite acceptable.
Great music, great performance, great buy.
NOTE: The heading shows four stars only. My intention had been to award five but I hit the wrong button and my editing skills have proved insufficient to add the fifth.
 Dvorak's Quintet in Context February 17, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Because the piano quintet is difficult to compose and rare, I offer this customer review as a complement to ones on three other specimens of the form by Schumann, Raff and Brahms. All four pieces are masterpieces. The dates are Schumann's in 1842; Raff's in 1862; Brahms' in 1864; and Dvorak's in 1887. My CD versions of the ones by Schumann and Brahms are on Philips Duos; and the Raff on MDG Gold. The four works convey four aspects of Romanticism: Schumann, its sentimental side; Raff, its continuity with the clasical past via Mendelssohn; Brahms, its self-expressive side; and Dvorak, its correlation with nationalism. In terms of Meyer Abrams' The Mirror and the Lamp, Schumann's is the most "pragmatic" in its commitment to persuade an audience to adopt an ethical attitude; Raff's, the most "objective" in its concern for a finished product; Brahms' the most "expressive" in its revelation of the composer's sovereign volition, not for the sake of persuasion but as self-realization in a manner analogous to Van Gogh's paintings; and Dvorak's, the most "mimetic" in making an epic impression of the Czech worldview. Schumann evokes sympathy; Raff, respect; Brahms, astonishment; and Dvorak, participation.
Schumann engages the interest due to a family member; Raff, to a professional; Brahms, to a prophet-intellectual; and Dvorak, to a leader. Schumann's work opens with a bright, forthright melody; but there is no mistaking the "intimacy" of the music even in the first movement. The halting minor key of the slow second movement suggests that our family member is attending a funeral. The flowing melody suggests a memorial of the "dear departed"; and the agitated music a moment of angry grief. The scales that open the scherzo sound like practicing the piano at home. The brisk, fifteen-note sequence of the finale's theme delivers a "pragmatic," instructional message.
Dvorak's opening movement is the most lyrical of the four works. Rich melodies such as this carry the same nationalistic implication as in Smetana's and Tchaikovsky's music. Dvorak's melody is national-testimonial in the same way as the famous second number of Smetana's Ma Vlast. The brilliant workmanship of the movement is calculated to deliver this melody as a manifestation of nationalistic pride. Melody dominates the work to an extent unmatched in the other three quintets. The equally emphatic slow movement stays on cue by delivering more of the same, consistent view of the world. The unity of the whole work is its striking feature and consistent with its mimetic nature. Raff's workmanship is intriguing in itself; but Dvorak's serves a larger meaning expressed through dominant melodies. The Emerson Quartet and Pressler are remarkably self-effacing as though caught up in something larger than all of us. The third movement scherzo is an epitome of folk music like a big communal dance scene in an epic novel. The quick finale plunges even further into this sense of self-effacing participation. Dvorak belongs to a culture to an extent that does not apply to the other three composers at all.
Nice recording November 4, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This CD contains a very nice interpretation of Dvorak's piano quintet op. 81 with the bewitching second movement, the "Dumka". Highly recommended although the technical quality of the recording is hardly perfect.
I completely agree with Darryl Robertson's review! July 11, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
SHAME ON DG. The Emerson Quartet and Mr. Pressler are superlative, but the sound quality of the the strings when "forte" is called for is horrendous. The music comes across as a cacaophony. What a shame.
Desert Island Disk June 9, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've had this recoridng for the better part of 10 years and return to it often. It's simply amazing. These are first rate chamber pieces played to pieces by outstanding muscicians. Rich, vibrant, soaring and firey are a few adjectives to describe this incredible coupling. Buy this disk!
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