Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major "Trout", Arpeggione Sonat

This is a very sprightly Trout. The first movement, a true Allegro vivace, gives a joyful feeling of onward momentum, but poised and well in control so there's no sense of undue hurry. The lively yet easygoing style persists in the Scherzo and finale. The quintet's bright textures suit the clear, picturesque sounds of period instruments admirably: I especially enjoyed the light, seemingly effortless brilliance of the piano's upper register — the third variation in the fourth movement shows this off to perfection — and the way the characteristic 68 Gramophone February 1999 sonorities of the lower strings emerge so clearly. But there are some disappointments; Schubert's many pianissimos rarely sound soft or mysterious enough, and I felt often that the string phrasing should move further away from classical elegance towards romantic breadth. In the two slower movements particularly, the best modern instrumental versions, such as those led by Brendel and Curzon, achieve a more intense expr