Schubert's Trout Quintet has been recorded as often as it has individual notes in the score. Combining it with Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Piano Quintet should not be enough justification. What can make it worthwhile for the listener? Verve, feeling and excellent sound.

The Rémy Ballo Ensemble of violinist and conductor Rémy Ballot fulfil all three of the above requirements. In fact, they even offer a tonal rarity, as both quintets were composed for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. However, they are often performed with a second violin instead of the bass. However, Manfred Hecking, a double bass player, is part of the ensemble. In addition to him and violinist Ballot, Iris Ballot on the viola, Jörgen Fog on the cello and Yoko Urata-Fog on the piano enrich the sound and complete the quintet.

The acoustic realisation takes place on a generous, but not sprawling stage, with a corpus-rich sound image. The presence of the large violin is sometimes more subtle, like a friendly humming that underpins the piano keys on the left. At times, however, it is also very present, as the basis and foundation of the lively violin, viola and keyboard. This creates an often-missed foundation in the low frequency and thus effectively compensates for what is exaggerated as a matter of course in other performances.

The successful balance becomes particularly clear in the prominent Scherzo: Presto, the third movement of the Trout Quintet. Here, the bass not only underpins, but conclusively closes many an instrumental exclamation with a rock-solid exclamation mark and makes it more than clear why Schubert included it in his composition and why the ensembles should leave it there.

The same applies to the four movements of Hummel's composition. They appear firmer, more solid and ultimately more credible in this downwardly rounded combination of instruments. As if to confirm this statement, the low four-string demonstratively carries the sometimes lively, sometimes extremely lively playing of its companions in the opening Allegro e risoluto assai with a more than convincing solidity and gives the dynamics in the treble the right basis to shine.

What's the bottom line?

Ballot deserves thanks for the decision alone to give the bass its due. The fact that he has realised this in such a fine recording is a gift.

A well-deserved listening tip. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Rémy Ballo Ensemble
Rémy Ballot, conductor