These performances offer an easy way to get all of Dvorák’s most important chamber music (except the string quartets) at a rock-bottom price. Only the early String Quintet No. 1 and the String Sextet are missing, while the inclusion of the Wind Serenade might be counted a bonus. With the exception of the Piano Quintets, where the presence of Richter and the Borodin Quartet provides an obvious attraction to fans of the performers beyond the repertoire itself (and the interpretations are just as special, though not as well recorded as the more familiar Philips versions), you can do a bit better in all of this music by purchasing individual issues in Supraphon’s complete Dvorák chamber music edition–but then you have to pay full price. There are some lovely things here, including Matousek and Adamec’s two discs of music for violin and piano, and the Stamitz Quartet’s richly upholstered take on the Double Bass Quintet.
Less charming: the piano trios with the Solomon Trio (no match for the Suk Trio on Supraphon), the rather too prominent Harmonium in the Bagatelles, and the Nash Ensemble’s proficient but acidulously reedy sounding Wind Serenade. But here’s the bottom line: in chamber music as popular and frequently recorded as Dvorák’s, you can almost always find something better, or at all events preferable. However, if you want to get to know this music at one throw, don’t want to spend lots of money, and want to feel confident that the performances capably and enjoyably project the music, this is a good place to start. After all, you can always get more of those works that you find especially appealing–and will surely want to. There’s no other body of chamber music quite like this one.
