Buy? £13.99
Recording details: November 2004
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: November 2005
Total duration: 64 minutes 25 seconds
View sleeve notes/artwork
'A considerable discovery, in sum, which Piers Lane and the Vanbrugh Quartet do absolutely proud … The booklet essay by Jeremy Dibble is, as ever, a model of scholarly research and enthusiasm. Flawless sound and balance, too, from the experienced Keener/Eadon production crew' (Gramophone)
'There's little doubt that Piers Lane and the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, recorded here with superb immediacy, recognise its evident strengths, delivering a performance of white-hot intensity that will surely help to make the work far better known … Altogether an outstanding release' (BBC Music Magazine)
'The performances are deeply committed, and the sound quality is exemplary in both tonal fidelity and balance' (Fanfare, USA)
'The Vanbrugh players and their Australian and Scots guests do an absolutely first-class job - the string playing is beautiful and committed, as is the pianism, and the recordings are superb. So are Jeremy Dibble's annotations. More please!' (The Strad)
'They couldn't ask for more eloquent advocacy than these splendid performances' (The Sunday Times)
Piano Quintet in D minor, Op 25
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String Quintet No 1 in F major, Op 85
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Growing up in his native Dublin in the 1850s and ’60s, Stanford was no stranger to high-quality chamber music, even if visits to Ireland’s capital by pre-eminent executants of the genre were sporadic. As a teenager he recalled with affection and excitement the solo recitals of Anton Rubinstein, Sigismund Thalberg and Charles Hallé, and string players such as Camillo Sivori, Ludwig Strauss, Henry Vieuxtemps, Alfredo Piatti and of course Joseph Joachim, a friend of his father.
Stanford’s passion and mastery of the idiom are evident in the substantial catalogue of chamber music he produced throughout his life. His invigorating Piano Quintet dates from 1886 and transports its audience from melancholy introspection (the first two movements are in minor keys) to extrovert joy and optimism; the buoyant, richly scored String Quintet No 1—declared by Parry to be an ‘admirable piece of work’—introduces elaborate ornamental figurations resembling traditional Irish singing.
