In 1999 fortepianist
Riko Fukuda and bassist Pieter Smithuijsen formed the
Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet, including a violinist, violist, and cellist to complete the ensemble. Knowing that the number of compositions for piano plus the normal string quartet configuration isn't as great as what's available for piano trio or piano quartet, the literature that would utilize a group including the double bass must be a small number indeed.
Schubert's Trout Quintet is the obvious and probably only example that would spring to mind. But narrowing whatever choices may exist even further,
Nepomuk is determined to find music that is also from the era of the fortepiano.
This,
Nepomuk's first recording, features quintets by Ferdinand Ries and Franz Limmer. The liner notes say a lot about the composers and works, but don't answer the most interesting question -- why the unusual instrumentation -- although the group's bio does mention that the bass helps fill in the lower registers, where the fortepiano is weaker than a piano would be.
Ries was a pianist and composer whose father had been
Beethoven's teacher, and who, through the closeness of the families, became a student of
Beethoven in turn. His early education had been on violin and cello, but it's the piano that gets to do the fancy footwork in his 1817 quintet (that's two years before
Schubert's). It's in three movements, closer to the Classical era in sound with its elegant filigree ornamentation, and to a concerto or symphony with a slow introduction to the opening Allegro. The song-like middle movement could easily be plodding because its structure is not much more than a melody with chordal accompaniment, but
Nepomuk keeps it less rigid and brings out the more compelling "interruptions" of the melody, which presage the slightly more Romantically inclined finale. Limmer was a much lesser accomplished musician, conductor, and composer from Vienna. His Quintet, Op. 10, dates from around 1830 and also favors the piano, in fact being published as "Grand Quintet for piano with the accompaniment of violin, viola, cello, and bass." All four movements seem to be infused with Schubertian melodies and dances. It definitely is of a later era than the Ries, more dramatic or indulgent, but despite the D minor designation, the lightness of the melodies and frequent modulations into the major make it as carefree as often as it is serious. Its finale has simplistic-sounding themes, but the ins and outs of the music -- how the instruments enter and follow, the modulations, the variations of texture -- make it the most musically interesting part of the whole program.
Fukuda uses different instruments for each work. The one in the Ries has a lighter tone, suited to the more refined nature of the music, while that in the Limmer has a cushier tone. The recording allows the instruments to ring very naturally and in the case of the strings, closely, putting the fortepiano at a disadvantage in several places. As well as
Nepomuk plays these quintets and appreciating its dedication to period performance, it's a shame because the intent of both works seems to be to show off the skills of the pianist more than anything else.