Brahms: Klavierquintett Op. 34

Track Listings

1. Allegro Non Troppo--Poco Sostenuto--Tempo I

2. Andante, Un Poco Adagio

3. Scherzo. Allegro--Trio

4. Finale. Poco Sostenuto--Allegro Non Troppo--

Tracks:

Allegro Non Troppo--Poco Sostenuto--Tempo I
Andante, Un Poco Adagio
Scherzo. Allegro--Trio
Finale. Poco Sostenuto--Allegro Non Troppo--

Customer Reviews:

One of the last recordings of this fantastic Quartett.......2007-05-28

The Quartetto Italiano is one of the mistics ensemble.They were fatastic in Beethoven (the last Quartets...)Ravel, Debussy, Webern, Mozart etc.This is one of the last recordings they did. And with Pollini, one of the most complete pianists of our time.This is my favourite recording of this music.I had the LP and now I have this CD. Maybe the time of the CD is short.But if you want to know this music this is the ideal recording.

Ripoff.......2006-07-11

And the major labels wonder why folks have deserted them...
$21 for 43 minutes of music is a disgrace, there is a serious error by the violinist, and the sound is just mediocre. I'd recommend you buy the Naxos with Jando and the Kodaly Quartet: good sound, excellent performance(s) - and the Schumann Quintet too.

Fantastic, but...........2006-06-15

Would an intrepid Deutsche Grammophone audio engineer please fix a blemish in this otherwise masterful recording? In the fourth movement at 1:12, the 1st violinist plays a high Gb that is a quarter-step flat. I know that this could be resampled delicately and placed in tune, using modern digital audio editing. If someone took the care to buff this recording to a lustrous finish, perhaps it would actually be *worth* $21.

What can I say? It's already been said. This performance is marvelous.

Amazingly, no room for improvement except in sonics.......2005-09-29

Pollini has the inexplicable ability to make you feel that his performance is irreducibly perfect and needs no comparison with anybody else's. That's true of his Chopin and just as true here, despite the wiry string sound and less-than-beautiful piano.

Piano trios, quartets, and quintets are notoriously hard to record. String instruments are tricky to begin with because of their high overtones, and so is the piano, because it can sound hard and glassy. Comvining the two is often the worst of both worlds--the violins sound screechy and weak, the piano too percussive and overbearing.

One recording that I turn to for sheer beauty of sound is the Tokyo Quartet with Barry Douglas on RCA, and their reading is musically fine as well. But Pollini and the Quartetto Italiano are a league higher in musicianship--at least on the piano side--and Pollini inspires a sense of urgency that is all to the good with Brahms. Five stars, without a doubt.

Excellent Performance.......2004-11-03

I've always admired this performance, but like the reviewer below, have had problems with the sound. The good news is that it was just released in Europe on the mid-priced DG Originals label. The piano sounds great, the strings a little thin in comparison, but overall the disc is a much better deal now.

Music Review: