It’s refreshing to see these fine works taken up by non-Czech musicians, and in general the members of the Nash Ensemble do them proud. The Piano Quartet in A minor is a very early work, dedicated to Dvorák, in three no-nonsense movements full of youthful fire. The tunes certainly aren’t up to Dvorák’s standard (whose are?), but there’s plenty of melodic interest and the ensemble writing is extremely confident. Far more intriguing are the Four Pieces for violin and piano. The first sounds like prototypical Janácek, and the concluding Burlesca is both fun and curiously disturbing. Some of the darkness and depth of Suk’s later and larger works is very much in evidence here.
The major work is the Piano Quintet in G minor, composed in the mid-1890s and dedicated to Brahms. It has something of the German composer’s density of thought in the strenuous first movement, and also a touch of Dvorák’s sparkle in the scherzo. The second movement, marked “Religioso”, is remarkable for being just that, though I think the string players make a bit too much of their vibrato-less imitation of a consort of viols. There’s nothing inherently religious in that sound, after all, and I also note a touch of strain in the outer movements as well, with the strings digging in admirably but sometimes at the expense of sheer timbral beauty.
Sonically the keyboard takes a bit of a back seat here and comes across as slightly muffled, but the climaxes never lose focus. In general the ensemble shows good balance and a very wide dynamic range, well caught by the microphones. In sum, these are very good performances, easily recommendable to anyone interested in exploring well-written, involving chamber music that, even though early for this composer, doesn’t sound quite like anyone else. This disc came as a pleasant surprise, typical of Hyperion’s commitment to recording good music wherever they find it, with generally top-notch local talent.
