Search - Akiko Ebi :: Franck-Pierne-Quintettes Pour Piano et Cordes-Akik

An Excellent Disc of Fine Art...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 06/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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The medium of the piano quintet is by its very nature intrinsically a concert genre.

The piano trio and even quartet could often be hausmusik, as members of a family could theoretically play the parts, but the requirements of a string quartet ensemble plus proficient pianist fairly assure a dramatic stage demeanour for the piano quintet.



Schumann virtually established the genre with his Eb Op. 44 of 1842.

Schumann: Op. Nos. 44 & 47



Of course there is also Brahms' Strum und Drang f-minor Op. 34 (1864)--(although he had not originally envisioned a piano quintet: the work morphed from cello-string quintet to two-piano sonata).

Glenn Gould Edition: Schumann & Brahms



It is with Franck's echt-Romantic and anxiety-inducing f-minor Quintet (1879) with its sweetly dolorous molto sentimento middle movement (a-Db), however, that the genre was established in France. Versions abound:

Franck: Piano Quintet; Chausson: Piano Quartet

Franck: Quintet in Fm; Chausson: String quartet in Cm

Franck: Piano Quintet; Violin Sonata; Symphony



H. C. G. Pierné (1863-1937) was a Lorrainer like his countryman Florent Schmitt. And Pierné's e-minor Piano Quintet Op. 41 of 1919 is cast rather in the fin-de-siècle mould of 1909 like Schmitt's cryptic Quintet of a year earlier.

Schmitt-Quintette Pour Piano et Ocrdes Op.51

Sonate Libre Pour Violon et Piano-Ombres



This Pierné Quintet is a masterwork without doubt, bearing the stamp of Pierné's taste and formidable technical skill: virtuosic, stylish, assured.

As David Cox says, "It was entirely characteristic of Pierné to pass easily from the light to the thoughtful, from outward sparkle to inner penetration, and readily to find the appropriate style and colour to express many different shades of emotion and feeling."

Like his teacher Franck's work, Pierné's Quintet is a cyclical tripartite concert-piece of >:30 mins duration. Movement II based on a Basque dance rhythm is particularly charming.



Also available on: Gabriel Pierné: La musique de chambre, Vol. 1

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Suggested reading:

The Guns of August

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