Elgar: String Quartet/ Piano Quintet [CD]

The chamber music that Elgar composed in little over a year at the end of the first world war a violin sonata, followed by the two works on this Hyperion disc has never gained the popularity of his orchestral works, and in the case of the Piano Quintet, that's hard to explain. The String Quartet, certainly, is not straightforward; its first movement especially is a tangle of stream-of-consciousness cross-references and sly harmonic shifts, whose quality of elusiveness sometimes recalls that of Fauré's only string quartet, completed six years later. But the Piano Quintet, for its spectral moments and apparently covert dramatic scenario, is much more expansive, and as this fine account by Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet demonstrates, it's full of highly expressive, authentically Elgarian tunes. The Goldners' account of the quartet is finely fluent, too, and in both works they resist the temptation to over-egg the climaxes. Between the two, Lane plays a group of Elgar's piano miniatures, the most intriguing of them the tiny Impromptu from 1932, which sounds like the start of a Novelette that Schumann never completed. **** --Guardian,16/06/11

You need not be English to play Elgar;these musicians draw out the sense of mystery and the tourtured soul that underpin the composer's luminous expressivity. ***** EDITOR'S CHOICE --Classic fm Magazine,Sept'11

The Goldner String Quartet judges the Elgar idiom persuasively, finding that blend of sensibility and muscularity, wistful meditation and optimistic motivation. The main works are the E minor String Quartet (1918) and the A minor Piano Quintet, completed the following year: both are played with distinction, and with a secure grasp of the give and take of pulse that is integral to Elgar's music. In between, Piers Lane plays four miniatures, including a 27-second Impromptu --Telegraph,14/07/11

This is one of those rare discs that give pleasure and food for thought in equal measure.The whole experience is a valuable reminder that Elgar doesn't display his originality openly.It's not a matter of being stylistically forward-looking,or even up-to-date:Elgar's originality is at a deeper level-in the way the music thinks and feels.A new top recommendation. Performance ***** Recording ***** DISC OF THE MONTH --BBC Music Magazine,Sept'11

The Goldner String Quartet judges the Elgar idiom persuasively, finding that blend of sensibility and muscularity, wistful meditation and optimistic motivation. The main works are the E minor String Quartet (1918) and the A minor Piano Quintet, completed the following year: both are played with distinction, and with a secure grasp of the give and take of pulse that is integral to Elgar's music. In between, Piers Lane plays four miniatures, including a 27-second Impromptu --Telegraph,14/07/11

Accolades all round for this generous programme from Lane and the Goldners. --Gramophone,Oct'11

The Goldner String Quartet judges the Elgar idiom persuasively, finding that blend of sensibility and muscularity, wistful meditation and optimistic motivation. The main works are the E minor String Quartet (1918) and the A minor Piano Quintet, completed the following year: both are played with distinction, and with a secure grasp of the give and take of pulse that is integral to Elgar's music. In between, Piers Lane plays four miniatures, including a 27-second Impromptu --Telegraph,14/07/11

Critics Choice 2011 --Gramophone,Dec'11

The Goldner String Quartet judges the Elgar idiom persuasively, finding that blend of sensibility and muscularity, wistful meditation and optimistic motivation. The main works are the E minor String Quartet (1918) and the A minor Piano Quintet, completed the following year: both are played with distinction, and with a secure grasp of the give and take of pulse that is integral to Elgar's music. In between, Piers Lane plays four miniatures, including a 27-second Impromptu --Telegraph,14/07/11

Inspired by the rural beauty of the surroundings at his country retreat in 1917, Edward Elgar embarked on the composition of some of his most inspired and imaginative chamber works. Both the String Quartet and the Piano Quintet are works of great depth and elegance. Their conservative style disregards the compositional trends of the time and displays an unabashed late-romanticism. Elgar wrote: It is full of golden sounds and I like it. But you must not expect anything violently chromatic or cubist. The disc features sumptuous playing from the acclaimed Goldner String Quartet, who are joined by pianist Piers Lane for Elgar's sublime Piano Quintet, a large-scale work of almost orchestral sonority. These masterpieces are accompanied by four previously unrecorded works for solo piano, the last of which was written by Elgar at the age of 72. They are intimate, charming rarities, superbly performed by Lane.