Dvořák • Price
Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major; Price: Piano Quintet in A minor
Marc-André Hamelin (piano); Takács Quartet
Hyperion CDA68433 67:06 mins
Clip: Dvořák – Piano Quintet No 2 in A major, Op 81 - 3. Scherzo (Furiant) Molto
Florence Price’s music is coming increasingly to the fore and all credit to the Takács Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin for recording her eminently rewarding piano quintet. Composed in the 1930s, the quintet – apparently discovered by accident in an attic – inhabits a late-Romantic world, more than a little tinged by Dvořák’s ‘American’ style, though skilfully put together and melodically attractive.
But for all its undoubted qualities, the work is out of kilter with a large-scale opening movement outbalancing the remaining three, a pity since the brief finale is in many ways the most imaginative part of the work. Hamelin and the Takács are committed advocates shaping the first movement with finesse and clearly relishing the syncopations and occasionally Blues-influenced melody in the catchy ‘juba’ third movement.
Their performance of Dvořák’s magical second piano quintet is magnificent. The verve and sheer beauty of the string playing is immediately apparent in the glorious cello solo at the opening, but such exquisite moments never get in the way of a strong feeling for overall structure which pays huge dividends in the outer movements.
Care over shaping is also apparent in the Dumka slow movement in which the Vivace central section is exhilarating and perfectly judged without turning, as it often does, into an undignified scramble.
A well-balanced recorded sound allows each of the strings to shine where necessary, most notably the viola in the radiant central section of the scherzo, but the lasting impression is of Marc-André Hamelin’s beautifully-shaped accompaniment. Jan Smaczny
