PACM034:
"Trout" Quintet for Piano and Strings, D667- Schubert
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Artur
Schnabel, piano
Alphonse Onnou, violin
Germaine Prévost, viola
Robert Maas, cello
Claude Hobday, double bass
Recorded
on 16th November, 1935, issued as HMV DB.2714-18
Matrix Numbers: 2EA.2529--2538, takes 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2,
2
Download ID: 197979, 434941
(Duration
33'33")
Play
sample movement:
It
is not just that this is an historic performance; it is a performance
given by artists who are utterly sure of their artistic vision.
And that makes it both modern and essential...
- Bill Rosen
Artur Schnabel's
recording of Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet, with members of the Pro Arte
Quartet augmented by Claude Hobday is rightly seen as one of the great
recordings of its age, and although one might have wished for a slightly
different pairing of string players more suited to Schnabel's style, this
wonderful performance is a definite must.
I had long
intended to continue our exploration of the recordings of both the Pro
Arte Quartet and Artur Schnabel with this particular piece, but finally
it was re-reading Vikram Seth's excellent novel An Equal Music
that prompted me to get these discs out and transfer them.
From a
restorater's point of view this recording caused a couple of difficulties
en route - the discovery that one of the discs was cracked from
edge to centre, and that this crack then continued partway through the
other side of the record, threatening to break clean through, almost made
me abort the project. Fortunately I was able to get good transfers from
this disc - good enough to eradicate all sonic traces of the crack.
Other difficulties
included the usual British HMV 'bacon frying' crackle, plus a tendency
to overload distortion whenever the double bass played a particularly
loud note. I'm pleased to report that both these problems were solved,
and the unusual sonic combination of a string quartet comprising violin,
viola, cello and double bass comes through as being in excellent balance,
both internally, and with the piano. The result is one of my favourite
chamber music restorations for quite a while!
REVIEW
OF SCHUBERT 'TROUT' QUINTET Schnabel, Pro Arte Quartet
Members, Hobday (1935)
First
the sound! For 50 years, I have been listening to this famous
performance on a gray-jacketed EMI "Great Recordings
of the Century" LP. The sound was as gray and as two-dimensional
as the cover. Suddendly the sound of this restoration leaps
forth with brilliant piano tone and really resonant gutsy
strings. There seems to be some three dimensionality in the
recording and I sense space between the piano and strings.
Well might the restorer, Andrew Rose, consider this one of
his most successful restorations. Might one ask whether he
can do an equivalent job with Schnabel's Mozart G Minor Piano
Quartet?
Unlike
Andrew Rose, I feel that Schnabel and the Pro Arte Members
are well-matched. This is not a sweet, dreamy Trout. This
has vigor, conflict and bite. Schnabel is tough, but does
not dominate. The Pro Arte give as good as they get. For example,
in the fourth movement variations while the piano frolicks
and darts, the urgent high trills of the violins pursue it
with demonic vigor and do not let it get away. Both Schnabel
and the Pro Arte are dedicated classicists and the touches
of romanticism (confined to the second movement) are not many.
It is not just that this is an historic performance; it is
a performance given by artists who are utterly sure of their
artistic vision. And that makes it both modern and essential.
Reviewer:
Bill Rosen
Find
out more:
"Trout"
Piano Quintet 3rd mvt. - Scherzo (Presto) &
Trio
Download
our Illustrated Catalogue Complete
catalogue of recordings, fully indexed by composer and performer,
with links to website pages
Restoration
by Andrew Rose:
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It
is not just that this is an historic performance; it is a performance
given by artists who are utterly sure of their artistic vision.
And that makes it both modern and essential...
- Bill Rosen
