Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Wolfgang Sawallisch :: Schubert: Trout Quintet; Notturno

Fine, but Expensive, and Outclassed by Others

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 07/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Schubert's Trout Quintet is certainly one of the most beloved chamber works in existence. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard it (and played it, as pianist) and I never tire of it. Not surprisingly, it has been recorded more times than one can imagine. So one asks why yet another recording? In this case this is a re-issue of a performance that originally appeared on the Calig label and is now released on Gunther Hänssler's newish Profil label. Hänssler was the brains behind the Hänssler Classics label that brought us, among many other things, the wonderful Bach Cantata series under Helmut Rilling. So far it appears to me that most of Profil's releases are reissues from other labels. This one features a pianist much better known as a conductor, Wolfgang Sawallisch, who for Americans is probably best known as a recent conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. This performance, recorded in 1997, shows him in fine form as are his colleagues -- Jan Pospichal, violin; Wolfgang Klos, viola; Wilfried Rehm, cello; and Ernst Weissensteiner, double bass. The performance is unexceptionable and in acceptable sound. But the competition is so fierce that the rather steep price of this issue makes a real difference. Partly I suspect the price is due to the currently weak dollars. And indeed an earlier incarnation, still available here at Amazon at the time of this review, is even steeper.



When you can get incandescent performances like those of Clifford Curzon and members of the Vienna Octet, or Alfred Brendel with the likes of Thomas Zehetmair and Tabea Zimmermann, or James Levine and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, just to name a few available at less than full price, this one is not at the head of the pack.



The eight-minute Notturno, for piano trio, is lovely and played well, but is not reason to buy this CD.



Total time is only 50:41.



Scott Morrison"