Piano Quintets

This release on the Chaconne label is presented by the leading fortepianist and clavichordist Susan Alexander Max and her ensemble The Music Colllection. World-renowned specialists in the period performance of late eighteenth- / early nineteenth-century music, they bring their expertise to Piano Quintets by Hummel and Schubert. Although otherwise highly contrasting, these works are both notable for their unusual inclusion of the double-bass in place of a second violin, otherwise the traditional piano quintet scoring. Uncertanties surround the composition and publishing dates of the two works and the debate continues as to whether Hummel's slightly earlier work was the inspiration for Schubert's 'Trout'. The Quintet is among Hummel's finest chamber works and shows Hummel at his best. It is well proportioned and inventive, with a wide range of ideas, both humerous and serious. The writing for the piano reflects Hummel's own flamboyant virtuosity on the instrument. The last movement of Schubert's Quintet is a set of variations on the 1817 song Die Forelle (The Trout). The work reveals Schubert's incomprable lyricism in the relaxed outer movements, but popular dance rhythms and a brisk scherzo create drive and passion.