CO

LU

MB

IA R

EC

OR

DS

MONAURAL—ML 5873

SCHUBERT: THE TROUT QUINTET

BEETHOVEN: PIANO QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR

JOSEPH R01SMAN, BORIS KROYT, M1SCHA SCHNEIDER

OF THE BUDAPEST STRING OUARTET ———■^^^"ASSISTMC MlfS——

MIECZYSLAW HORSZOWSKI.PIAHIST IUUUS LEVINE.BASS1ST

D| □

Stereo "360 SOUND" represents the ultimate in listening enjoyment. Every aspect of recording activity has been carefully supervised by Colum¬ bia’s engineers and craftsmen, using the very

latest electronic equipment. Stereo "360 SOUND" creates the effect of surround¬ ing the listener with glorious, true-to-!ife active sound. It is as if one were sitting in the first row center at an actual performance.

Columbia’s studios have been designed with uniform sound characteristics and are equipped with sixteen-channel consoles and custom-calibrated multi-track

tape machines engineered and built to Columbia’s microphones useu are chosen for their individual sound properties depending upon the orchestration, the artist and the concept of the producer of the record¬ ing. Some of the microphones are: the Sony C37A; Telefunken-Neumann’s U671 U47; M49B; KM54A; KM56; the AKG’s C60, C12 and Electro Voice 655C. Only high-output tape affording maximum signal to noise ratio is used. Such tape, of great tensile strength and thickness, additionally aids print-through and reduction of distortion and hiss.

The reduction of the original multi-track tape to the final master tape is per-

own specifications. The formed on editing consoles hand-tooled by Columbia’s engineering staff to accommodate any number of channels. The transfer of master tape to master lacquer is made via a Westrex or Ortofon cutter installed on a Scully lathe equipped with automatic variable pitch and electronic depth controls. Before production is begun, a master pressing is compared to the final tape (A-B checked). It is only after the recording has passed this critical test that Colum¬ bia’s engineers give the final approval for manufacture, secure in the knowledge that each Stereo "360 SOUND'' disc will have the same full-bodied dimensional sound as that originally recorded in the studio.

360 SOUND

in the elimination of

multi-

Library of Congress catalog card numbers R 63-1215 and R 63-1216 apply to this record.

SCHUBERT: Quintet in A Major for Piano and Strings, Op. 114 (“Trout")

BEETHOVEN: Quartet in E-Flat Major for Piano and Strings, Op. 16 Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard

Neither Haydn, Mozart nor Beethoven ever wrote a ' piano

quintet"—that is, a composition for piano and string quartet.

Schubert, in the Trout Quintet, came close to writing the first

great piano quintet. But since the Trout is unorthodox in its

instrumentation—employing a double bass and dropping the

second violin—the honor was reserved for Robert Schumann.

After Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak and Franck contributed

grandly to the genre. Schubert's Trout is quite separate from

this series in a deeper sense than its choice of instruments.

Whereas they are often symphonic in approach and make use

of the rather large chamber ensemble for weight and for the

contrast of piano and strings, Schubert's principal concern

is with color; each instrument is an obbligato voice, singing

its own song with its own very distinctive timbre. Despite the

bravura piano part, one is always delightedly aware of the

cello or violin or double bass making its own distinct and

independent contribution. Here, if ever, is a society of equals,

cooperating to produce some of the most ravishingly light¬

hearted music ever conceived.

Schubert was lighthearted when he wrote the work in the

^summer of 1819. At twenty-two, he was already a master with

A an enormous body of compositions to his credit. He and his

friend Johann Vogl, the remarkable baritone who gave the

first performances of many of Schubert's songs, were visiting

the picturesque tovyn of Steyr, some ninety miles to the west

of Vienna. There Schubert enjoyed the hospitality qf Sylvester 1^

Paumgartner, a music enthusiast and amateur cellist, and preV

sumably promised to write a work for him, one containing

prominent cello part. The cello does indeed have wonderful

things to do in the Trout—which was first performed in Paum-

gartner's drawing room in the winter of 1819-20—bi||mot at

the expense of the other instruments. Schubert, who presided

at the piano, gave himself plenty to do and provided hand¬

somely for the other instrumentalists as well. The only con¬

cession to Paumgartner was the inclusion of the double bass

in the ensemble, thus freeing the cellist from the task of

providing the bass foundation and allowing him to

freely in the songful upper registers of his instrument. It is

worth noting, however, that the use of the double bass in

chamber ensembles was not uncommon in Schubert's day,

and he had distinguished precedent in the septets of Beethoven

and Hummel and a quintet by Hummel for the

bination of instruments as his own.

The first movement. Allegro vivace, brims over with melody

—there are three distinct themes and a codetta as distinctive

as any of them. The first theme proper is preceded by some

twenty-five bars of what might be called "introduction," al¬

though they are in tempo and contain, right from the first bar

(the up-turning arpeggio in the piano), important thematic

material. There is no doubt when Schubert really gets under

way, however; we hear this lovely song from the violin:

Stereo—MS 6473 Members of the Budapest String Quartet

(Joseph Roisman, Violin; Boris Kroytf Viola; Mischa Schneider, Cello)

Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano

Julius Levine, Double Bass

codetta, with the piano speeding along in sixteenth-note oc¬

taves at the bright top of its register while the strings interject

a syncopated dotted figure which turns into a kind of minia¬

ture trumpet call as the section draws to a close. Having loaded

us with riches in the exposition, Schubert is wisely frugal in

the development, confining himself almost exclusively to the

rather gray introductory material. But all the glorious tunes

return, in proper sequence, in the recapitulation—"nothing is

more welcome than a second bite at these irresistible cherries,

as one commentator put it.

The Andante is almost as richly endowed. In F major the

piano sings a long melody of beatific innocence, each of its

two halves repeated by the strings. Such simple devices as

trills and decorative sextuplets serve to enhance this tune.

a more intense F-sharp minor and piano and strings prepare the way for a new mel¬

ody, harmonized in thirds and sixths by the viola and cello.

This theme anticipates, by some ten years, the refrain of

Schubert's own well-known "Serenade." One more theme may

be noted, a dotted figure followed by descending sextuplets,

which issues at last in a brief but exquisite coda tune beginning thus:

For bountiful measure, Schubert adds a fifth movement, thus emphasizing the festive and divertimento-like character of the quintet. This finale. Allegro giusto, is neither sonata- form nor rondo but something between the two. Its deliciously indolent first subject and lively second subject (actually two themes played simultaneously by strings and piano) are thoroughly discussed during the course of the movement, but not in an orthodox development section. "If Schubert takes the lazy way out," remarks William Mann, we may remem¬ ber that he was on holiday, and that the holiday relaxation of the Trout Quintet has always been its most engaging fea¬ ture, the inspiration of some of Schubert's most generously captivating melodies.

//

//

Then, still quietly, the key shifts to

//

When he was a lad of fifteen, Beethoven wrote three piano

quartets (1785). They are possibly the earliest examples of the

form, since Mozart's two piano quartets date from a little

later. He never directly returned to this type of composition

again, finding it more satisfactory to remove the viola and

compose piano trios, which allow for a more dramatic con-

w| p; pi ... * m trast of timbres, spotlighting, as it were, the individual players.

^ Y • •• A % M m The Piano Quartet, Op. 16, recorded here, is an arrangement After this the entire Andante is repeated in new keyis but of the Quintet for Piano and Woodwinds, which bears the

essentially the same instrumental groupings. same jopus number and is in the same key. Beethoven arranged

A Beethoven scherzo, marked Presto, ensues. The vigorous a number of his works for other combinations. He turned the

yet simple rhythm (an almost unvarying three quarter notes Wind Octqt and the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 3 into string quin-

to the bar) contrasts with the preceding movements and the tets; he made a string quartet out of the Piano Sonata, Op. 14,

one to follow. The trio features threefold antiphony—we hear No. 1; he made his own two piano arrangement of the Grosse first the two upper strings, then t he piano thenTh%lwo lower Fuge; he jither arranged or authorized the arrangement of

strings. This, too, is a procedure favored by Beethoven. the String Frio, Op. 8 as a sonata ("notturno") for viola and

Now comes the famous movement that gives this quintet piano. And there are other examples, some of them spurious,

its name—variations on Schubert's song, "The Irout." A. J. B, All this re-arranging was done in order to accommodate dif-

Hutchings remarked about this movement, "Schoolboys love ferent groups of players in an age when amateur musicians

the variations in which the tune can always be heard with were much more plentiful than they are today. The Piano

such slight but delicious alteration, and old boys who do not Quartet, Op. 16, undoubtedly came into existence because

love them are advancing in sin as well as in years." The orig- string players were more plentiful than expert wind players,

inal song has a marvelous accompaniment in which the piano There is an amusing story connected with a performance of

describes the trout flashing through the water, but Schubert the original Quintet for Piano and Winds, in the year of its

(we mistakenly think) only interested in the melody composition, 1797. Beethoven, playing the piano part, took

sung by the voice. This melody, played (Andantino) by the advantage of a fermata in the last movement to improvise a

strings alone, serves as the theme of the variations: cadenza of large proportions. Ries, Beethoven's early biog¬

rapher, writes that "It was comical to see those gentlemen

waiting expectantly, ready every moment to go on, continually

lifting their instruments to their lips, and then quietly putting

them down again. At last Beethoven was satisfied and dropped

into the Rondo. The audience was delighted.

The anecdote gives the key to the work, which is light¬

hearted and entertaining. Beethoven the Liberator of Music

is nowhere discernible; Beethoven the enormously talented

protege of Joseph Haydn and inheritor of the eighteenth

century classical tradition is everywhere apparent. The first

movement begins with an extended slow introduction (Grave), which is a standard feature of Haydn's last symphonies, and

continues with a graceful and delicate Allegro ma non troppo in impeccable sonata form. The slow movement. Andante cantabile, is closer to Mozart than to Haydn, with its long-

breathed theme which goes through a process of continuous,

exfoliating variation, Beethoven's own characteristically pawky

humor peeps out in the Rondo finale, but it is kept well within

the bounds of eighteenth century decorum.

e —

ir-if***

7m * —— — v’V

t

roam

same com-

seems

PP

Variation 1: the piano takes over the tune, the strings buoying

it up with broken triads and high trills. Variation 2: lower

strings and piano alternate in the theme against a graceful

running counterpoint in the violin. Variation 3: the melody is

carried by double bass and cello while the piano rushes along

vigorous thirty-second notes. Variation 4: a mock-heroic

variation beginning in stormy D minor but changing to

serene and contrapuntal F major in its second half.

Variation 5: a meltingly lovely variant for Herr Paumgartner'

cello, even more beautiful than the original tune. But the

greatest delight of all is the final variation, or coda, which is

in fact the original song, pure and simple, with the strings

taking the part of the voice and the piano playing the 'til-

suppressed accompaniment as the trout once more leaps and frolics through the water.

//

in The arpeggio figure enhances the pauses in this melody. The

second theme is announced by the cello. With the violin echo¬

ing it an octave and a half above:

a more

s

now The third theme is easily recognized, since it is given out in

full by the unaccompanied piano. Then follows the irresistible

DAVID JOHNSON

clnF i crmiornr n.„WTtT IKI , ^ , TH£ SELECTIONS—PUBLIC DOMAIN—ARE FOLLOWED BY THEIR TIMINGS S8,DEJ. SCHUBERT: QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 114(“Trout”) (Beginning)

II—Andante........... III— Scherzo...’ ‘ ’ ’ ’ * ‘ ’‘‘ ‘ .... IV— Theme and Variations.\ ....’8:15

SIDE !i V—Finale

BEETHOVEN: QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 16 I—Grave; Allegro ma non troppo.

II—Andante cantabile. ...v. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo...

SCHUBERT: QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 114 (“Trout”) (Conclusion) 6:42

10:49 .7:37 .6:04 III

29:35

__ 31:27

MASTERWORKS". [5J MARCAS REG. PRINTED IN U S A. COVER PAINTING BY BERNARD KRIGSTEIN

© COLUMBIA RECORDS 1963/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ® "COLUMBIA 3

SCHUBERT:

/ QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR \

PIANO AND STRINGS, \

/ Op. 114 (“Trout”) (Beginning)

'MEMBERS OF THE BUDAPEST STRING QUART!

Side ( XSM 59586

MS 6473 NONBREAKABLE

^STERWOff*s

QUINTET IN A MAJOR FOR

PIANO AND STRINGS,

Op. 114 (“Trout")(Conclusion)

MEMBERS OF THE BUDAPEST STRING QUARTE1 IMS 6473 Side 2 NONBREAKABLE XSM 59587

BEETHOVEN: QUARTET IN E-FLAT MAJOR FOR PIANO AND STRINGS, Op. 16

Joseph Rois^man^V^mst, ^ojlsKroyL

3. II - Andar

r O o <i

rfRlv0RKs-;gMARC,vS