Quintet for piano (left hand) & string quartet in G major

• Date: 1926
• Composer: Franz Schmidt
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

The Austrian composer Franz Schmidt was one of a number of composers Paul Wittgenstein commissioned to write works for him. Wittgenstein, the brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, had lost his right arm in the First World War, and he approached Schmidt as well as Ravel and Prokofiev and other composers to provide him with repertoire. Schmidt responded with, among other things, a Left-Hand Piano Concerto and several chamber works for piano left-hand and various combinations of instruments. The most successful of these chamber pieces is the Piano Quintet in G major (1926). With lovely melodies, charming harmonies, and infectious rhythms, Schmidt's Piano Quintet is clearly the work of a Viennese. Composed in for movements -- a brilliant opening Lebhaft, doch nicht schnell (Lively, but not too fast), a gloriously expansive Adagio, a witty Sehr ruhig (Very restful) dance movement, and an effervescent rondo finale marked Sehr lebhaft (Very lively), the piano quintet was said to be one of Wittgenstein's favorites among all the works he commissioned. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
30 Years Outside the Box	1992
Antonin Dvorák: Klavierquintett in A-Dur, Op. 81; Franz Schmidt: Klavierquintett in G-Dur
Music for Strings & Piano Left Hand	1998
Raoul Sosa and Quatuor Laval play Franz Schmidt & Erich W. Korngold	1995
Schmidt: Piano Quintets 1 and 2	1992

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