Fragrant blossom
Dvořák's piano quintet was a high-flyer in the public's favor.
Eduard Hanslick, probably the strictest music critic of his time, described Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet, completed in October 1887, as "one of the most fragrant new blossoms on the tree of our chamber music". In fact, the work immediately met with the undivided approval of the international audience after its premiere in Prague in January 1888. It became one of the master's most popular works and is still popular today. "There is depth, pathos, grace and power everywhere", enthused a London critic in 1888. The Dumka, reminiscent of the second movement of Schumann's Quintet, and the lively Furiant give the work its Slavic character. The outer movements are no less impressive, especially the first with its cantabile themes and their virtuoso treatment.
The new Bärenreiter edition is based on the parts of the first edition by Simrock. Parts and piano score are pleasantly large, easy to read and can be easily turned over, especially at the piano.
Antonín Dvořák, Quintet in A major op. 81 for piano, two violins, viola and violoncello, Urtext ed. Antonín Cubr, BA 9573, € 23.95, Bärenreiter, Prague 2013
