Schubert Ensemble play Fauré with finesse

Fauré’s Piano Quintets Nos 1 & 2 truly lives under the Schubert Ensemble’s fingers on beautiful, textured recording

Composer: Fauré
Repertoire: Piano Quintets Nos 1 & 2
Artists: Schubert Ensemble
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Chamber
Label: Chandos CHAN 10576

Fifteen years separate the premieres of Fauré’s two piano quintets, despite the enthusiastic public reception that greeted the first. The advantage for us now is that we have two wonderfully contrasting quintets to enjoy.  The troubled First Quintet’s full textures are beautifully balanced, harmonic and melodic contrasts are expertly worked, and the musical lines breathe and soar. Then the Second Quintet, written in a pre-retirement demob-happy state of light heartedness, sounds as fresh as fresh can be. The players make neatly rapid work of the virtuosic passages and beautifully draw out the progressive harmonies and textural variety.