Brahms. Schumann – Piano Quintets  

Leif Ove Andsnes (pf) Artemis Quartet
Virgin Classics  395143-2 

Read Review

A fertile longstanding collaboration between the Artemis and Leif Ove Andsnes comes to a head in this coupling of two central works of the piano quintet repertoire. In the Schumann, Andsnes and the Artemis “let the notes speak for themselves, never lingering too lovingly on the details,” wrote David Threasher. Equally in the Brahms the ensemble maintains “the intensity of the impetuous passion implicit in this youthful music”. Both are full-blooded, joyous performances, “revealing the inner truth of the music” without artifice or affectation. All in all, a superb contribution to the chamber recording canon.