Quintet in A for pianoforte and string quartet, Op. 81
1 Allegro ma non tanto. 2 Dumka : Andante con moto. 3 Furiant : Molto vivace. 4 Finale: Allegro played by The Griller String Quartet :
Sidney Griller (violin)
Jack O'Brien (violin)
Philip Burton (viola)
Colin Hampton (violoncello) and Harry Isaacs (pianoforte)
Dvorak's Piano Quintet was written in 1887. It is one of the finest of his chamber works: 'an absolute revelation ', says Ottokar Sourek , ' of the personality- of Dvorak, a man apparently locked within himself, moving only in the sphere of divine beauty, now plunged in gloomy meditation, his vision lost in eternity, now smiling brightly, bubbling over with happiness and breaking forth in outbursts of the frankest joy. Such a spirit was Dvorak, and thus he appears in this quintet-one of the freshest and most characteristic creations of his genius.' The composer makes brilliant use of the ' Furiant' in the scherzo movement.