The last recording of the Dvorak Piano Quintet that I reviewed in these pages offered a high-powered performance from Menahem Pressler and the Emerson Quartet. The pianist on the new disc is Susan Tomes (also an inspired member of Domus), who matches even Pressler in imagination, encouraging a performance lighter than that for DG, full of mercurial contrasts that seem entirely apt. For example, in the second movement Dumka there is more light and shade, and the Scherzo sparkles even more, leading to a jaunty, exuberant finale. The G major String Quintet, the earliest of the two which Dvorak wrote, the one with extra double-bass, is similarly lighter than the two versions which I have used for comparisons. As well as the earlier Hyperion version from the Coull Quartet I chose the Chandos version on which the Chilingirian Quartet are joined by Duncan McTier. If slower speeds and less crisp ensemble make the Coull version seem too heavy, the Chilingirian one is just as strongly characterized as the new one, with a firmer, fuller tone. Marieke Blankestijn’s violin is thinner than Levon Chilingirian’s, but it can be just as beautiful, as in the lovely high-floating second subject of the slow movement (track 7, 2'29''). Altogether a fine disc, if you fancy this coupling. Incidentally, unlike the rivals mentioned, the Gaudier Ensemble fail to observe the exposition repeat in either work, but Dvorak himself, as we know from the symphonies, was very doubtful about the need for such repeats.
Couplings in this repertory present complicated alternatives. The Chilingirian Chandos disc sensibly presents both the string quintets, with the E flat, No. 2 calling on Simon Rowland-Jones as the extra viola. They give just as strongly characterized a performance as that of No. 1, strong and warm to make the new Melos version on Harmonia Mundi seem a little reticent at the start. This is a refined, finely tuned performance rather plainer in approach than that of the Chilingirian, not quite so colourful in bringing out the American flavours in this work which, like the companion quartet on the disc, written at the same time, qualifies for the nickname American. That same apt coupling, surprisingly rare, came on a recent Erato disc with the Keller Quartet, and the contrasts are clear and consistent. In both works the Keller performances are faster and lighter in every movement, both crisper in attack and more fanciful in phrasing, more tender in their lyricism, making the Melos performances sound rather heavy-handed by comparison, warm-toned and expressive though they are. My own preference for the Keller on Erato is clear, though some may prefer the Melos’s weightier approach.'