Franz Schubert: "The Trout", Quintet in A Major, D. 667

"Tipping his hat to a certain brand of cheesecake, Alan Rich describes Schubert's 'The Trout' Quintet as the piece that 'nobody doesn't like.' Indeed it delights, and Rich's enthusiasm is contagious. What we hadn't realized was the degree to which the quintet rebelled against the strict classical conventions of the period; Schubert had already begun to move on. Drawing on musical excerpts from Bach to Mozart to Beethoven, Rich delights in pointing out the composer's tricks and subterfuges in detailed real-time commentary across the piece.

Our favorite find, from the 'Inside Schubert' section, was a new word, 'Schubertiads': the privately sponsored concert parties at which many of his compositions first aired. The CD is filled with lighthearted touches in keeping with the 'particular joyousness' (Rich's words) of the quintet. A trout jumps, splashes, or is reeled across the page, and strips to its skeleton in 'The Cookbook' (ten Voyager-tested recipes-- you can't get more multimedia than that).

'The Trout' Quintet is performed by Elisabeth Leonskaja and members of the Allan Berg Quartet. Included with all the CD Companion features is a complete recording, in English and the original German, of Die Forelle, the art song on which the quintet was based. There's also an annotated bibliography for all of us who came away hungry for more Schubert.

The 'Trout' also features:

A Close Reading: a running commentary across the whole composition, measure by measure-play through, or search and browse at your own pace

A Classical Background: an exploration of the musical currents that influenced the quintet

Inside Schubert: a look at Schubert's life and times -- from Voyager