Originally released in 1990 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Marlboro Music Festival, this 2004 reissue is a welcome addition to the Masterworks Expanded Edition, cleaned up in the remastering and enhanced by extremely clear separation of parts. The 1967 performance of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet is the most fascinating offering, largely because the musicians play with great cohesion yet maintain distinctive parts without shaking the ensemble's equilibrium.
Rudolf Serkin is clearly the leader, but his playing never upstages the sturdy quartet of
Jaime Laredo, Philipp Naegele, Leslie Parnas, and Julius Levine, an enthusiastic group that rises to the work's challenges and
Serkin's inspired promptings. Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, performed in 1968, is a little less engrossing, though it shares with the Schubert a similar balance of distinctive lines and bonded ensemble playing. The sound is a little stuffy due to the limitations of recording at Columbia Studio. However, Direct Stream Digital and SBM Direct have considerably improved the sound quality and given the musicians a fairly credible presence and some sense of depth. The unnecessary bonus track, a live performance of the finale of Brahms' Trio in E flat major for horn, violin, and piano, is raucous and bothersome, and is the disc's least attractive selection.