Schumann, Brahms: Piano Quintets

1	Piano Quintet in E flat m
2	Piano Quintet in E flat m
3	Piano Quintet in E flat m
4	Piano Quintet in E flat m
5	Piano Quintet in F minor,
6	Piano Quintet in F minor,
7	Piano Quintet in F minor,
8	Piano Quintet in F minor,
Schumann, Brahms: Piano Quintets
1.	Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44 28:09
	Composed by Robert Schumann
	Performed by Leif Ove Andsnes and Artemis Quartet
2.	Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34a 40:18
	Composed by Johannes Brahms
	Performed by Leif Ove Andsnes and Artemis Quartet

All Music Guide

Before issuing this recording, the Artemis Quartett had already made clean, tight, and driven performances of several Beethoven quartets and a "Verklärte Nacht" that could seduce even the most chaste listener, and Leif Ove Andsnes was already established as one of the finest living pianists. But something about the combination of the two here doesn't work. Naturally, the Artemis and Andsnes play with a cogent ensemble and unified interpretation, but their interpretations are surprisingly cool in the fast movements. The fugue that concludes Schumann's quintet and the Scherzo in the center of Brahms' work are more like well-balanced machines than aesthetic dramas, and the slow movements come off as cold. Certainly these are very listenable performances, but they may not warrant repeated listenings. Recorded in Teldex Studios in Berlin, the sound here is bright and crisp, if a bit lacking in depth. James Leonard

Daily Telegraph

Few performances of the Brahms Quintet, especially, combine such an impulsive Romantic sweep with such finesse and lucidity of detail. Richard Wigmore