Piano Quintet in A major, B. 28 (Op. 5)
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Piano Quintet in A major, B. 28 (Op. 5)
- Date: ca. 1872
- Composer: Antonin Dvorák
- Period: Romantic (1820-1869)
Review
If there is any real importance to Antonín Dvorák's early Piano Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 5, it lies in the fact that were not this piece, when all is said and done, an unsatisfying work of music, one of the crown jewels of the chamber music repertoire, Dvorák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, would likely never have been composed. The story is an interesting one. A few months after Dvorák finished Op. 5, it was given a performance and forgotten -- the composer was at that point an unknown musical figure. Many years after that, in the late 1880s, after he had made a name for himself composing Slavonic and Moravian trifles and more substantial works, Dvorák unearthed Op. 5 and started to tinker with it -- he often revised early works, with varying degrees of success. He found, however, that he could not remake the music into something he liked, so he abandoned the work once again and immediately started composing a new piano quintet in the same key. Many decades and several major wars would go by before the Op. 5 Quintet was again unearthed and finally published.The three-movement Piano Quintet, Op. 5 will probably always remain a novelty piece, but it does contain some moments of fine music. There is a pleasing sway to the opening movement, and some lovely instrumental songs in the central Andante; the third movement gallops along energetically, if perhaps a bit clumsily. ~ Blair Johnston, Rovi
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Piano Quintet in A major, B. 155 (Op. 81) (once listed as Op. 77) | |
| Piano Quintet in A major, G. 413 (Op. 57/1) |
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