Two bargain Trouts and the sound of the mid-1960s analogue Vanguard version is much preferable to the clear and slightly clinical digital balance on the LaserLight alternative. The Vanguard recording has an attractively resonant ambience, with the double-bass telling strongly, and adding warmth and support to the overall texture. The pianist, Peter Serkin, dominates the performance agreeably, and this is a well-paced, lively account, full of spontaneous feeling. The LaserLight performance takes almost exactly the same timing for the first movement (there is only three seconds difference) yet the feeling is brisker, less affectionate, and the famous variations are also more imaginatively handled by Serkin and his group.
Couplings should be taken into consideration. Serkin and his group provide an enjoyable performance of Mozart's E flat Piano Quartet, K493, rather robust at the opening, but again refreshingly spirited, with the repose of the Larghetto nicely contrasted with the sparkling account of the finale. Unfortunately, the Vanguard CD transfer offers only two bands, one for each major work, with no cues for individual movements. LaserLight offer a lively chamber performance of Schubert's concertante Rondo—more substantial than it sounds—with the B flat Impromptu, D935 No. 3, nicely played by Jeno Jando as an encore and everything separately cued. Those seeking a digital bargain Trout could well be better satisfied with the Pickwick version by the excellent Nash Ensemble, with Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (sung by Felicity Lott), rather than Die Forelle, the Lied after which the Quintet is named, as the encore. The recording is forward, but truthful, the performance fresh and agreeable.'