CD1
Piano Trios Op. 90 "Dumky" and 21
Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor Op. 90 "Dumky"
1. Lento maestoso-allegro 4'33 2. Poco
adagio-vivace 6'34 3. Andante 5'53 4.
Andante moderato 4'55 5. Allegro 4'03
6. Lento maestoso-vivace 4'53
Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major Op.
21
7. Allegro molto 13'27 8. Adagio molto
e mesto 7'33 9. Allegro scherzando 7'08
10. Finale, allegro vivace 6'11
The Solomon Trio: Daniel Adni, piano
Rodney Friend, violin Raphael Sommer,
cello
Total time - 65'10
CD2
Piano Trios Op. 65 and 26
Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor Op. 65
1. Allegro ma non troppo 13'57 2. Allegro
grazioso 6'45 3. Poco adagio 9'12 4.
Finale, allegro con brio 10'14
Piano Trio No. 2 in G minor Op. 26
5. Allegro moderato 12'22 6. Largo 6'19
7. Scherzo, presto 5'56 8. Finale, allegro
non tanto 6'47
The Solomon Trio: Daniel Adni, piano
Rodney Friend, violin Raphael Sommer,
cello
Total time - 71'33
CD3
Piano Quartets
Piano Quartet in D major Op. 23
1. Allegro moderato 15'01 2. Andantino
9'39 3. Finale 7'49
Piano Quartet in E flat major Op. 87
4. Allegro con fuoco 8'33 5. Lento 11'11
6. Allegro moderato, grazioso 6'59 7.
Finale 9'22
Ames Piano Quartet: William David, piano
Mahlon Darlington, violin Laurence Burkhalter,
viola George Work, cello
Recording: January 1989 Troy Savings
Bank Concert Hall, Troy, USA
Released under non-exclusive licence
of the Dorian Music Group Ltd
Total time - 69'51
CD4
Piano Quintets
Piano Quartet in A major Op. 5
1. Allegro ma non troppo 8'29 2. Andante
sostenuto 11'03 3. Finale, allegro con
brio 8'56
Piano Quartet in A major Op. 81
4. Allegro ma non tanto 13'47 5. Dumka,
andante con moto 16'40 6. Scherzo, Furiant,
molto vivace 3'46 7. Finale, allegro
7'01
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Borodin Quartet: Mikhail Kopelman, violin
I Andrei Abramenkov, violin II Dmitri
Shebalin, viola Valentin Berlinsky,
cello
Recording: 31 December 1982 Licensed
from Pipeline Music Inc. USA
Total time - 69'42
CD5
String Quintets
String Quintet in G major Op. 77, for
2 violins, viola, cello and double-bass
1. Allegro con fuoco 12'27 2. Scherzo,
allegro vivace-l'istesso tempo, quasi
allegretto 9'22 3. Poco andante 8'42
4. Finale, allegro assai 7'40
String Quintet in E flat major Op. 97,
for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello
5. Allegro non tanto 9'26 6. Allegro
vivo 5'54 7. Larghetto 10'45 8. Finale,
allegro giusto 8'12
Stamitz Quartet: Bohuslav Matousek,
violin I Josef Kekula, violin II Jan
Peruska, viola Vladimir Leixner, cello
Jiri Hudec, double-bass (1-4) Jan Talich,
viola (5-8)
Recording: March 1992, Prague Producer:
Rudolf Bayer Licensed from Bayer
Total time - 72'53
CD6
Music for violin and piano I
1. Capriccio 9'45 2. Romance Op. 11
12'42 3. Nocturno Op. 40 6'38
Violin Sonata in F major Op. 57
4. Allegro ma non troppo 11'45 5. Poco
sostenuto 6'45 6. Allegro molto 5'46
Bohuslav Matousek, violin Petr Adamec,
piano
Recording: 27-30 December 1992, Prague
Producer: Boris Kobrle Engineer: Tomas
Zikmund Licensed from Bayer Records
Total time - 53'53
CD7
Dvorák
Music for violin and piano II
Sonatina in G major Op. 100
1. Allegro risoluto 5'52 2. Larghetto
4'02 3. Scherzo 2'56 4. Allegro 6'20
5. Ballade Op. 15 6'06
Romantische Stücke Op. 75
6. Allegro moderato 3'24 7. Allegro
maestoso 2'42 8. Allegro appassionato
2'27 9. Larghetto 6'01 10. Mazurka Op.
49 6'03
Bohuslav Matousek, violin Petr Adamec,
piano
Recording: 27-30 December 1992, Prague
Producer: Boris Kobrle Engineer: Tomas
Zikmund Licensed from Bayer Records
Total time - 46'44
CD8
Serenade / Hausmusik
1. Rondo for cello and piano in G minor
Op. 94, allegretto grazioso 7'43
Drobnosti Op. 75a, for 2 violins and
viola 2. Cavatina, moderato 3'56 3.
Capriccio, poco allegro 2'22 4. Romanza,
allegro 3'29 5. Elegia, larghetto 4'30
6. Gavotte in G minor for 3 violins:
allegretto scherzando 2'41
Bagatelles Op. 47 for 2 violins, cello
and harmonium
7. Allegretto scherzando 2'59 8. Tempo
di menuetto, grazioso 3'16 9. Allegretto
scherzando 2'56 10. Canon, andante con
moto 3'27 11. Poco allegro 4'21
Serenade for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2
bassoons, contrabassoon, 3 horns, cello
and double bass in D minor Op. 44
12. Moderato, alla Marcia 4'17 13. Minuetto
6'08 14. Andante con moto 8'35 15. Allegro
molto 6'13
Robert Cohen, cello (1) Roger Vignoles,
piano (1) Alberni String Quartet (6-11)
Howard Davis, violin Peter Pople, violin
Roger Best, violin/viola David Smith,
cello Virginia Black, harmonium Nash
Ensemble (12-15)
Licensed from CRD Records, UK
Total time - 66'32
The Brilliant boxes
come thick and fast, regrouping the
catalogue in inventive ways, hunter-gathering
the obscure, the better known and all
prey in between. Sometimes there are
weaknesses and the good is balanced
by the weaker but here most things are
more than welcome and the eight discs
show a commendable standard throughout.
We have the well known in the shape
of the Borodin Quartet and Richter’s
troubled Quintets, and the Alberni and
Nash Ensembles make their considerable
presence felt, alongside a snippet of
Robert Cohen and Roger Vignoles. The
Solomon Trio’s recordings are revivified
and the American Ames Piano Quartet
are deft instructors which leaves two
discs of the violin music in the very
capable hands of Matousek and Adamec.
Let’s list some highlights.
Bohuslav Matousek and Petr Adamec have
a quarter of the set to themselves with
two volumes devoted to the violin and
piano music (Matousek reappears later
with the Stamitz Quartet so he’s a big
presence). I like their performances.
Matousek has made quite a show in the
catalogues and I remember with particular
pleasure his Brahms and Martinů
concertos; here he is just as idiomatic.
He is not as ripely expressive as an
older colleague – Snítil, say, in the
Romantic Pieces in his 1983 recordings
with Josef Hála – but nor is he as aloof
as some of his younger Czech contemporaries
in this repertoire. Instead he
strikes a judicious balance. The Sonatina
is charmingly played and excellently
scaled – and he takes a particularly
good tempo in the tricky Larghetto of
the Romantic Pieces, adding a bustly
Mazurka Op.49 and Ballade Op.15 for
good measure (even though this disc
is rather short measure at 46 minutes).
The Capriccio is mighty difficult to
bring off without it sounding horribly
out of tune but Matousek sticks to his
guns and turns in a delicate and effective
performance of the Romance, better known
perhaps in its guise for solo violin
and orchestra (Suk, Perlman et al).
The Sonata is buoyant with a fine lyric
cantilena in the slow movement; Matousek
will certainly appeal to those who appreciate
sparing and judiciously applied vibrato.
There’s an English
take on the Czech master in the Serenade
and Hausmusik disc. Cohen and Vignoles
are given a bit of an unsympathetically
resonant acoustic and this does impart
a degree of nasality into the cellist’s
tone in the Rondo. Otherwise there’s
a spirited Gavotte for three violins
and the ever-delightful Bagatelles.
Drobnosti are here in their chamber
form – they’re actually the Four Violin
Pieces in expanded form, played with
tonal wit and variety by the members
of the Alberni Quartet. The Nash Ensemble
distinguishes itself in the sprightly
Serenade, especially in the delightful
rhythm and sonority it cultivates in
the Minuetto. The Trios are given over
to the Solomon Trio, well-known musicians.
Rodney Friend is better known as an
elite leader/concertmaster and Daniel
Adni as a sensitive chamber player,
as was the late Raphael Sommer. These
are good performances though I don’t
much like the acoustic in which they’ve
been recorded. It seems to me that it
separates Friend’s violin and that string
ensemble is rather compromised aurally
– though it wasn’t necessarily so in
the studio. Friend’s tone is rather
steely, maybe as a result, and the trio
can be reserved – as in the Allegro
of the famous Dumky (Op.90). They can’t
do much with the first movement of the
Op.1 Trio – it’s over-ambitiously long
– but they do find a sweet lyricism
in its slow movement. Sommer is at his
most eloquent in the F minor Trio and
the whole group finds vigour and animation
in the G minor, where they are robust
in the finale; overall these won’t live
with the best performances but they
are relatively sympathetic.
The Ames Piano Quartet
are precise and musicianly in their
traversals of the two Piano Quartets
– no rich larva portamento here. Their
discreet playing is enjoyable, even
though they’re not quite fully on top
of the long and awkward first movement
of the Op.23. They do generate a fine
drive in the Allegro con fuoco of Op.87
and do well by the weirdly Turkish sounding
third movement; altogether attractive
ensemble. The String Quintets are safe
in the hands of the Stamitz Quartet
and guests double bassist Jiři
Hudec and violist Jan Talich. With Matousek
leading we are treated to a lithe, bright
and elegant performance of the G minor.
They don’t get bogged down in the slow
movement and are rhythmically astute
in the finale and very natural sounding,
generating a Mendelssohn Octet-type
drive and drama. If anything the companion
Quintet is even better. The opening
movement of the E flat major is saturated
in the Dumka and the quintet, joined
by the superb Talich, conjures up a
rich tonal brew throughout – and listen
to the rapt delicacy at the end. Their
Larghetto is wistful rather than lachrymose
and the finale animated, perky, intensely
alive and gloriously sprung.
Which leaves the Piano
Quintets, with the Borodin and Richter.
These were taped on the last day of
December 1982. They certainly inflate
the early Op.5 to majestic proportions.
It’s a big-boned, heavyweight reading
and Kopelman’s violin tone is sometimes
a bit raw in the struggle – but Richter
is wonderful in his statements in the
Andante and the finale goes with animation.
The famous A major is certainly individual
and won’t be to the liking of those
who revere, say, Curzon and the Vienna
recording. The Russians open with a
sense of an intimate lullaby and take
some quixotic tempi along the way, along
with moments of arresting delicacy.
There is something funereal about their
second movement – this is altogether
a dark, foresty, Grimm Brothers performance
– and it’s extremely slow and then suddenly
frantic, with Kopelman’s vibrato taking
on a rather extraordinary intensity.
The finale is Furiant to the last degree.
Quite an amazing performance - a real
narrative. I’m not sure I liked it but
it’s pretty damn unignorable.
A most diverting box,
then; notes are, as per house style,
brief though helpful, and the 8 discs
are housed in a nice, slim box. I’d
rate Matousek and the Stamitz highly;
the Nash too, some of the others somewhat
less but nothing to compromise the set.
The Borodin/Richter is obviously a big
draw but it’s very personalised.
Jonathan Woolf
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 92181 [8 CDs: 65’10 + 71'33
+ 69'51 + 69'42 + 72'53 + 53'53 + 46'44 + 66'32]
