Description
Johannes Brahms — String Quintets Nos. 1 and 2, Naxos (Audio CD)
Vadonatúj! Gyári csomagolásban! Fóliázott! Mint a képen! Vásároljon bizalommal! Foliaban!
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Product Details
- UPC: 730099463522
- Product Type: Audio CD
- Composer: Johannes Brahms
- Performers: Ludwig Quartet (Jean-Philippe Audoli, violin I; Elenid Owen, violin II; Padrig Faure, viola; Anne Copery, cello), with Bruno Pasquier (viola)
- Catalogue No.: 8.553635
- Release Year: 1996
- Genre: Classical — Chamber Music
- Country of Producing: [confirm — no "Made in" line visible in the photos]
Product Features
- Format: Audio CD, DDD (digital recording/mixing/mastering)
- Playing Time: 59'58"
- Recorded at the Temple Saint-Marcel, Paris
- Liner notes in English, German, and French
- Condition: sealed, shrinkwrap intact [confirm — factory seal unbroken]
Overview
Brahms wrote his two string quintets nearly a decade apart, and this disc puts them side by side so you can hear how far he'd moved — Op. 88, from 1882, is warmer and more overtly lyrical, while Op. 111, from 1890, is denser and was nearly the piece he retired on before Clara Schumann talked him out of quitting composition altogether.
Both works use the "viola quintet" scoring — string quartet plus a second viola — which gives the middle voices extra weight and a darker, richer center than a standard quartet. The Ludwig Quartet is joined here by Bruno Pasquier for exactly that role, and the pairing brings out the thick, autumnal textures Brahms was after. Recorded at the Temple Saint-Marcel in Paris with clean DDD sound, this is a solid single-disc way to hear both quintets back to back rather than split across two purchases.
Interesting Facts
- Brahms considered retiring from composition after finishing the String Quintet No. 2, Op. 111, in 1890 — he only kept writing after hearing clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld play, which led to his late clarinet works.
- Both quintets use the "viola quintet" configuration (two violins, two violas, cello) rather than the two-cello scoring Schubert used — a format Brahms favored for its darker blend.
- The Op. 88 quintet's second movement fuses what were originally two separate pieces — a slow movement and a scherzo — into a single hybrid structure, an unusual formal choice for Brahms.
- The cover reproduces "The Season of Roses" by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, an Austrian painter working in the same Vienna-adjacent cultural world Brahms settled into.
- This recording was made with support from the Office Français de Participation et de Courtage (O.F.P.C.), noted directly on the disc's back cover.
Track Listing
String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op. 88
- Allegro non troppo ma con brio (11:09)
- Grave ed appassionato – Allegretto vivace – Presto (12:15)
- Allegro energico – Presto (5:31)
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111
- Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (13:30)
- Adagio (7:16)
- Un poco allegretto (5:21)
- Vivace ma non troppo presto (4:57)
Publishers
Naxos. Recorded at the Temple Saint-Marcel, Paris, 23–25 October 1995. Producer/Engineer: Emmanuelle Bailliet. Music Notes: Keith Anderson.
Grabbed this one? A short review helps fellow chamber music fans.
