Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 - download (MP3 & FLAC)

“As if to avoid shining too much limelight on the individual – hard in a concerto, by its show-off nature, but no doubt advisable in Soviet years – Shostakovich gives piano and orchestra well-balanced dialogue in two works for the medium, captured with nimble energy by fine young soloist Martin Helmchen and the LPO in this live recording.” The Observer, 20th March 2011

“Helmchen proves a deft interpreter of both, aided by Jurowski at his most engaging; and the outstanding performance of the weightier Piano Quintet (1940), studio-recorded with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, makes this a rare means of acquiring all three works on one CD.” Sunday Times, 10th April 2011 ****

“Helmchen gives a delightfully unaffected, affectionate and note-perfect account [of the Second Concerto], the orchestra bringing out militaristic and even nightmarish aspects. There is a real fizz to the outer movements ...Helmchen and the musicians from the LPO...give a full-on passionate relay of the first movement [of the Quintet], a blanched one of the second that seamlessly rises in intensity with real eloquence and conviction.” International Record Review, May 2011

“Helmchen shows himself adept in all aspects of No. 1's quirky humour and satirical modernism, No. 2's playful high spirits and - in the famous Andante - a nostalgic romanticism Rachmaninov might have been proud of...What makes this disc more special is a truly superb account of Shostakovich's Piano Quintet...this is one of the most impressive performances of the work that I've heard in recent years.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Helmchen's mission seems to be to strip away layers of learnt understanding around these often performed works - looking afresh at the material itself - which works well for the Quintet and Second Concerto” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 ****

“The imposing Largo [of the Weinberg] is finely handled - Kirshnereit a model of lucidity in the lengthy solo passage...Nor is the final Allegro underplayed - the performers as attentive in its toccata-like opening as in the quirky reel-like idea that brings the climactic return of the work's opening theme” International Record Review, April 2011

“…in the Piano Quintet. Martin Roscoe and the Sorrels offer a dynamic and intense performance with Roscoe bringing marvellous shape and colour to the piano part.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 ****

“Volume 6 of the Sorrel Quartet's Shostakovich series gives us two of his outwardly formulaic works framing one of his most audacious, the Twelfth Quartet. It's a rather peculiar programme, not that this need bother anyone collecting this particular intégrale.
The playing is as idiomatic as you might expect from an ensemble once coached by Rostislav Dubinsky, founder member and first leader of the Borodin Quartet. True, the almost casual opening of the First Quartet is not ideally euphonious and, in the first movement of the Twelfth, there's a momentary lapse of concentration from the viola, whose expressive swoops elsewhere may not be to all tastes. What matters more is the palpable, very human sense of engagement, something you don't always get from glitzier groups.
Given that the best recordings of the Piano Quintet are 20 years old and either tucked away or buried altogether, the present account is not unwelcome, though it is relatively small-scale.
It's the subtle intimacy of the final pay-off one remembers, the warmth of the Maltings acoustic masking any thinness of tone.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010