Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44

“The qualities of both quintets are relished by Biss and the Elias players in these lively performances, though sometimes the balance — always tricky in this medium — favours the piano too much” Sunday Times, 30th September 2012

“playing of wonderful exuberance and fire in both works...these superb players could almost convince you Schumann was looking out on a cloudless sky when he wrote it.” The Observer, 7th October 2012

“the ensemble is meticulously precise and the Elias’s intonation spotlessly clean” The Strad, December 2012

“As a pairing of the most popular piano quintets, this disc would make a useful Christmas stocking-filler. The interpretations are clean and unfussy.” Financial Times, 16th November 2012

“highly assured performances of these two marvellous chamber works...this warmly recorded performance is most compelling when Schumann explores the extrovert side of his musical personality...While there are some caveats about the Schumann, the Biss/Elias partnership produces a wonderful performance of the Dvorak, conveying not only the freshness of its invention but also probing darker melancholic undercurrents.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *****

“From the very opening, the almost imperceptible variation of pulse suggests an intimate engagement with this music...This music thrives in performances of individuality and character...and that's what Biss/Elias offer in abundance. It's Schumann Quintet to place among the best of the rest and a Dvorak that I simply couldn't stop listening to.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

“one of the most enjoyable and compelling chamber recordings released this year” International Record Review, December 2012

“Both works are beautifully played, the instruments are perfectly blended and every note is carefully weighed and placed” Classic CD

“While the piano quartet has great vitality and charm, the quintet is on a different level of achievement: a fiendish pianistic challenge as well as a masterpiece of the genre... In the Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov they have a collaborator of rare musical intelligence as well as virtuosity. Another award contender? I guess so.” The Observer, 29th April 2012

“What makes [Melnikov's] playing so remarkable is an ability to achieve an ideal balance...Melnikov blends his tone to match exactly that of the strings...Naturally the Jerusalem Quartet is a hugely responsive partner in this process...With a recording that offers depth of sound and admirable clarity, Schumann's two chamber masterpieces are brilliantly served.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *****

“these performances are marked by great sensitivity and freshness as well as having a natural rhythmic flow that is by no means always the case in recordings of these two masterpieces...an immensely satisfying addition to the catalogue. A combination of ardour and control characterizes the supremly musical approach here, with extremely well-judged balance between piano and strings and a strong sense of direction.” International Record Review, June 2012

“These four fine players are consistently musical in their approach and there is nothing outlandish or suspect about their interpretations. And therein perhaps lies their weakness, for it's precisely that degree of risk-taking that makes this music come alive...There is elegance to the new reading, though, which can be persuasive, such as in the variation-form second movement of No. 2” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012

“This new set...is of a very high standard: the account of the powerful first movement of the A minor is breathtakingly impressive - at times, Schumann's invention seems fit to burst the confines of four stringed instruments - and I was captivated by this intense performance throughout...a fine set of performances, very well recorded in a St Petersburg church in a rich and naturally warm acoustic.” International Record Review, January 2012

“Pommier's coolly objective approach is admirably suited to the Novelletten and the early Abegg Variations.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 ****

“Hamelin scampers and thunders by turns but not once does he upstage the string-players. That this disc simply gets better and better on repeated listening is ample recommendation.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2009

“A variable success. Whilst the Alban Berg Quartet perform with beauty of tone an incisive ensemble, Leonskaja lacks real charm in the Schubert and her Brahms fails to deliver.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ***

“With an almost ideal balance between piano and strings, the variety of articulation in their playing brings a marvellous textural variety to the full-blooded writing in the outer movements of the Brahms. …the performances… can be confidently recommended as among the finest modern recordings of both works.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 *****

“Leif Ove Andsnes has an uncanny knack of revealing the inner truth of the music he plays without recourse to excessive gimmickry. He also has exquisite taste when it comes to choosing his chamber music collaborators, as this pairing of the two cornerstones of the piano quintet repertoire demonstrates.
Schumann's Quintet has become the most famous of his chamber works, with its boundless energy and melodic generosity. Andsnes and the Artemis let the notes speak for themselves, never lingering too lovingly on mere details. It's an approach that serves the work well, and an ideal instrumental balance helps illuminate the work's compelling textures throughout.
It's a similar story in the Brahms. Andsnes and the Artemis are alive to all the possibilities in the pregnant opening phrases of each movement and maintain the intensity of the impetuous passion implicit in this youthful music. The Brahms hasn't fared as well on disc as the Schumann and this recording of it can certainly take its place among the finest. As for the Schumann, it's undoubtedly up there with the best.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Andsnes, whose playing is full of personality, and the Artemis Quartet, who have a fine presence, give a magisterial account of the Brahms and are no less compelling in the Schumann.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition