Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert :: Schubert: "Trout" Quintet, Death and the Maiden, etc.

Levine is a fine Schubert pianist, and the performance is fi

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"DG is offering at nearly super-budget price their 1994 recording of the evergreen "Trout" Quintet with James Levine and first-desk players from the Vienna Phil. Given the source, it's no surprise that this is a warm, congenial performance, caught in excellent, close-up sound. Tempos are moderate; such propulsion as there is comes from Levine's lean, alert pianism. Strings are balanced to sound equal to the piano, even though in live performance we wouldn't hear these inner voices so clearly. At 39 min. this reading times out a minute slower than my current favorite on Sony with Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, and it feels marginaly more relaxed.



Conductors are rarely non-musicians (Beecham) was a notable exception, and of those who started out as pianists, some were only middling (Furtwangler) while others have been quite proficient (Sawallisch, Tilson Thomas, Bernstein, and now Levine). Non-pianists include mostly string players (Munch on violin, Giulini on viola, Koussevitzky on double bass) and rarely, some other orchestral instrument (Gerard Schwarz on trumpet, Simon Rattle on drums). I would say that Levine is the best pianist-conductor we have at present, certainly the one who plays in public most often.



Originally this "Trout" came with the rare Schubert quartet with guitar; here it's paired with a masterpiece, a Death and the Maiden Quartet from 1975 with the Melos Quartet. Unfortunately, their performance comes in really nasty suond--above forte the strings turn thin and shrill. I didn't feel motivated to listen, although this is a nicely played, arresting, but not first-rate reading. Other listeners may be able to toelrate the sonics better. For me, the value of this CD lies in the "Trout" and the bargain rpice."