Search - Antonin Dvorak, Panocha Quartet, Jan Panenka :: Piano Quintets 1 & 2

Czechs Do It Best 2, The Sequel

J. Lambie | LA, CA | 11/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mr. Lee has got the straight of it. There is no chamber music that, in sheer beauty, compares to Dvorak. And the Op. 81 Quintet stands very near the pinacle of his genius. And the Panocha Quartet are truly sublime. (In general, if the chamber group is Czech, you can't go wrong. The Prazak, Takacs, Skampa, Talisch, Suk, Guarnari Prague...all splendid. My brother was in Prague for 10 days last summer and he said, after walking a block, he was black and blue from bumping into music cases. There were literally chamber performances somewhere in the city from about 10 AM to 10 PM every day he was there.) I used to share Mr. Lee's opinion of the Op. 5 Qnt. until I was out in the Mojave at sunset after a rainstorm with the CD player cranking the Prazaks and Ivan Klansky through the headset. The last 40 seconds or so of the first movement of the Op. 5 are among the most gloriously triumphant, life-afirming moments in any music. I was literally dancing in the wet sand. I have every recording of these pieces I have been able to find and this recording is among the best. The best, in my opionion, include the aforementioned Prazak version, the Richter/Borodin Qt. (yes, they're Russians, but it's a live performance in Prague) and the Panochas again with Andras Shiff which substitutes a killer interp of the OP. 48 Piano Qt. for the Op. 5 Qnt. If you are not familiar with the Panochas or Dvorak's chamber works, you're in for a treat. If you have experienced either and don't have this disc, buy it now. There will be a quiz."