Bruckner String Quintet in F

[CallMePaul]

I was listening to the Naxos recording of this work (Fine Arts Quartet with Gil Sharon on 2nd viola) this morning and realised how rarely it appears to be performed, although there are a number of recordings available (https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...f-major/browse). I was surprised last year to find that a friend whom I consider well-informed about classical music was unaware of its existence!
Maybe its length (about 45 minutes) and the need for rehearsal time with a guest viola player deters quartets from programming the piece, but I am sure that forum members agree that it is one of the outstanding pieces of its genre. For those who do not know the piece, it is a mature work contemporary with the 5th and 6th symphonies and in the trio of the scherzo and the slow movement at least, there is no mistaking the composer if you know any of his symphonies. Do other forum members know and admire the work? I am surprised that to date there appears to have been no discussion of it here!

[Richard Barrett]

I agree that it's a beautiful work and umistakeably Bruckner (of course not everyone likes Bruckner to begin with!). It's true that string quintets of whatever kind tend to receive fewer performances than string quartets, which is especially a shame in the cases of Mozart and Brahms whose quintets are (IMO) more attractive than their quartets. I got to know the Bruckner through the recording by L'Archibudelli which is a more flexible string chamber ensemble rather than being a quartet that has to add someone. I don't think I've ever seen it performed though.

[richardfinegold]

I have heard it, or at least bits of it, on the radio over the years, but recently I heard a movement from it that was Orchestrated for full Bruckner sized Orchestra. I don’t know who did the Orchestration, but as again I had turned it on iafter the work had started it was a bit disorientating to hear a Bruckner Symphonic movement that I couldn’t identify

[ahinton]

It's true that string quintets of whatever kind tend to receive fewer performances than string quartets, which is especially a shame in the cases of Mozart and Brahms whose quintets are (IMO) more attractive than their quartets.

Hear, hear (in both cases). Brahms, wonderful chamber music composer that he was, seems somehow to have fired on less than his full complement of cylinders in his three string quartets which strike me as his least successful chamber works; Mozart's string quintets simply speak for themselves...

[CallMePaul]

I have heard it, or at least bits of it, on the radio over the years, but recently I heard a movement from it that was Orchestrated for full Bruckner sized Orchestra. I don’t know who did the Orchestration, but as again I had turned it on after the work had started it was a bit disorientating to hear a Bruckner Symphonic movement that I couldn’t identify

Presto lists a number of recordings of orchestral arrangements, which do not interest me as the piece works perfectly well as Bruckner intended it. Listening to snippets of recordings on Presto I was much impressed by the Fitzwilliam Quartet with James Boyd on 2nd viola and may buy this in the future.

[Master Jacques]

Anyone looking to purchase the benchmark Vienna Philharmonia Quintet's recording of the Bruckner String Quintet, coupled with the equally magnificent Piano Quintet in G by Franz Schmidt, would do well to go for this fairly recently remastered version on Eloquence, which is cleaner and more punchy than the old Decca issue:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-String-Quintet-Schmidt-Piano/dp/B0007MR2L6

Both performances are authentic nonpareils.

[Stanfordian]

I was listening to the Naxos recording of this work (Fine Arts Quartet with Gil Sharon on 2nd viola) this morning and realised how rarely it appears to be performed, although there are a number of recordings available (https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...f-major/browse). I was surprised last year to find that a friend whom I consider well-informed about classical music was unaware of its existence!
Maybe its length (about 45 minutes) and the need for rehearsal time with a guest viola player deters quartets from programming the piece, but I am sure that forum members agree that it is one of the outstanding pieces of its genre. For those who do not know the piece, it is a mature work contemporary with the 5th and 6th symphonies and in the trio of the scherzo and the slow movement at least, there is no mistaking the composer if you know any of his symphonies. Do other forum members know and admire the work? I am surprised that to date there appears to have been no discussion of it here!

I have the CD of the Bruckner quintet orchestrated by Gerd Schaller but I'm sad to say that in truth this version and even in its original conception does little for me.