Dvořák to put a spring in your step

Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet give a lively, fluent performance of two very different Dvořák Piano Quintets

Composer: Dvořák
Repertoire: Piano Quintets Nos 1 & 2
Artists: Piers Lane (piano), Goldner String Quartet
Rating:  4/5
Genre: Chamber
Label: Hyperion CDA 67805

Here is a relatively rare coupling on disc. You can see why, with both works in the same tonality (A major) and the early Piano Quintet No.1 (1872) being so obviously inferior to Quintet No.2 (1887). Having said that, it is fascinating to compare the two in these lively and idiomatic performances from Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet, engagingly recorded at Potton Hall (they have found an ideal acoustic for chamber music here). The Second Quintet is quintessential Dvořák with its heart-warming stream of melody and dance rhythms – the sort of music that puts a spring in your step and makes you glad to be alive.