Search - Wiener Philharmonisches Quartet :: Schubert: Trout/Death & the Maiden Curzon & Vienna Octet

Great Chamber music from Vienna

Peter G. Watchorn | Cambridge, MA USA | 05/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here are two classic accounts from the 1950s and 1960s of chamber works by Franz Schubert. Members of Willi Boskovsky's original Vienna Octet are partnered by the great English pianist, Clifford Curzon, in the famous 1958 "Trout" Quintet recording, a stereo remake of their earlier version with Walter Panhoffer; while the Vienna Philharmonic Quartet (led by Boskovsky) provides a highly compelling reading of the D minor "Death and the Maiden" quartet. In both works the Viennese players set a standard of chamber music playing with which other ensembles simply cannot compare. It is to do with their rhythm, articulation and sense of phrasing, all of which are uniquely Viennese. These recordings were highly celebrated in their day and remain as classics of the recorded chamber repertoire. Excellent sound by Decca in both recordings."