Schubert: Trout Quintet; Arpeggione Sonata; Die Forelle

Schubert wrote the Trout Quintet as a carefree young man still untouched by ill health and poverty; it radiates golden sunshine, confident hope, and high spirits. His earliest large-scale composition, it is among his most popular works. Its variation movement is the first of several in which he used one of his own songs as the theme, and this record includes the song itself--an inspired idea. It also includes the Arpeggione Sonata, the only surviving piece written for that now extinct six-stringed instrument, whose range most closely resembles that of the cello. The performances are all superb, lovely in tone, unanimous in phrasing, articulation, feeling, and spirit. The quintet is lively, simple, exuberant, and expressive; Ax plays his brilliant part with lightness, grace, and virtuosity, but never dominates the ensemble. In the sonata, Ma and Ax capture the dreamy poetry, wistful inwardness, and romantic ardor of this deeply affecting music beautifully. --Edith Eisler