There are many remarkable things about this disc coupling
Schumann's Quintet for piano, two violins, viola, and cello with
Schubert's "Trout" Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello, and bass -- but perhaps the most remarkable is the sound of Anne Trout's bass. Recorded in 2002 along with the rest of the
Atlantis Ensemble by
Peter Watchorn and
Joel Gordon, Trout's brief bass solos are amazingly immediate and astoundingly realistic. While the ensemble balances are otherwise well judged, in those passages Trout's bass is right there in the room next to the listener.
But that's only perhaps the most remarkable thing about this disc. There's also the robust and spirited performances by the
Atlantis Ensemble, an international chamber collective led by Dutch violinist
Jaap Schröder and American cellist and fortepianist Enid Sutherland and
Penelope Crawford. Playing two of the most joyous works in the chamber music repertoire, the
Atlantis Ensemble delivers technically skillful and infectiously cheerful performances. And then there's the wonderfully apt inclusion of a slyly witty reading of
Schubert's "Trout," the song from which he took the theme for the variations in the quintet, by Dutch baritone
Max van Egmond accompanied by
Crawford. Taken altogether, this is as enjoyable a period-instrument recording of these works as has ever been released.