Schumann - Melnikov / Jerusalem Quartet - Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet (2012, Harmonia Mundi # HMC 902122)

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Schumann - Melnikov / Jerusalem Quartet - Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet (2012, Harmonia Mundi # HMC 902122)

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Robert Schumann - Piano Quartet op.47 / Piano Quintet op.44
Alexander Melnikov / Jerusalem Quartet
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 233 MB | Full Artwork: 106 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi # HMC 902122 | Country/Year: France 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Piano

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Schumann - Melnikov / Jerusalem Quartet - Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet (2012, Harmonia Mundi # HMC 902122)

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These performances are notable for the blending of piano and strings into impeccably balanced textures. It’s an approach that’s better suited to the subtle Piano Quartet, a masterwork that owes much to classical models, than to the Piano Quintet. Alexander Melnikov and the Jerusalem Quartet take a very precise, refined approach to dynamics—well captured by Harmonia Mundi’s fine engineering—and they also Read more Ronde d’elfes , 1901) on the CD’s cover—receives a wonderfully airy, scintillating performance. In the slow movement, perhaps wary of sentimentalizing its famous opening solo, cellist Kyril Zlotnikov plays so self-effacingly as to come across as bland. Other cellists such as Bernard Greenhouse, in the classic Beaux Arts Trio recording, have managed to infuse more personality into it, while still communicating its restraint.
In the quintet, a more flamboyant, concerto-like piece than the quartet, Melnikov and company offer a fleet performance that favors a smoothly integrated ensemble sound over strong characterization of individual lines. Melnikov tends to exaggerate the gentle, dreamy character of his solos in the first movement, and his accompaniments are so discreet as to be almost inaudible. More assertiveness, at times, on all the players’ parts, would have added character to the interpretation.
For example, the slow movement, though played with careful differentiation between piano and pianissimo , is a bit matter-of-fact in its pacing and voicing. The tempo alla marcia main theme can sound a little dangerous, like a Grimm’s fairy tale, if the piano’s introductory arpeggio creates a more portentous atmosphere—Melnikov’s is smooth and easygoing—and the viola growls a little. In the Finale, its allegro ma non troppo marking can take on a defiant character if all of the quarter notes are all truly accented and separated, offering some resistance on the way to the main theme’s downbeats. Here, things seem to move too smoothly.
These highly recommendable performances—despite the small criticisms above, they give great pleasure—join many other polished, modern accounts such as Takács/Hamelin and Mandelring/Le Guay that have been praised in these pages. Melnikov and the Jerusalem Quartet embody the virtues of modern chamber-music playing—technical ease and, above all, clarity—but for more personal takes on the music, I am likely to return to Glenn Gould’s account of the quartet with the Juilliard Quartet, and Martha Argerich in the quintet with her Lugano Festival colleagues. Gould manages to assert his pianistic personality with every note that he plays, but still the nature of Schumann’s work comes across. Argerich’s strong temperament inspires her colleagues to a dramatic interpretation that brings the wilder elements of the piece to the fore.

Paul Orgel ~Fanfare

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The pairing of Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44, with his Piano Quartet, Op. 47, in the same key is a natural one, and there are plenty of choices on the market. Schumann is at his most Beethovenian in these chamber works, symphonic on a chamber canvas, forging big, noble themes that are susceptible to a vast range of unexpected complexities and developments. Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov and Israel's Jerusalem Quartet deliver tight readings that are fully competitive with those by better-known combinations. They sacrifice a bit of the broad, Beethovenian quality in favor of a certain incisive flavor, crafting distinctive interpretations and working them out in detail. Sample the opening movement of the Piano Quintet (track 5), which as a whole clocks in at 28:24, perhaps a minute under the average. It has a restless quality that expands into a driving, almost demonic quality in the scherzo. Certainly this is not an unfamiliar flavor for Schumann, but to apply it to these abstract chamber works is an original stroke. The slow movement of the Piano Quartet is deeply lyrical with Melnikov's graceful figures playing off nicely against the elegant lines of Kyril Zlotnikov's cello. Harmonia Mundi's studio sound is all that can be desired, and even if some listeners may be missing a certain emotional payoff in these recordings, they nevertheless represent a considerable accomplishment.

James Manheim ~allmusicguide

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Schumann - Melnikov / Jerusalem Quartet - Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet (2012, Harmonia Mundi # HMC 902122)

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