I'm overdue for a CD review today.

So let's talk about Franz Schubert's Piano Quintet In A, "The Trout". There are two works on the disk, the second being Thomas Adès' Piano Quintet. If you've glanced at my listening journal much, you may not be surprised to learn that the reason I bought this disk was for Mr. Adès' work and not the much better-known Schubert quintet! This is perhaps more obvious when I reveal that the Arditti Quartet plays the shorter piece and in my world, they can do no wrong.

The Schubert "Trout" quintet is probably the best-known work for this particular chamber configuration (the four major stringed instruments plus piano), and in some ways, I suppose you could say it's really the fundamental work of the genre. I don't know that we would really have any other works to hear for piano quintet without it. Still, the most striking thing about the "Trout" quintet is really how much Franz Schubert sought to emulate the textures of a larger ensemble. He frequently masses the strings to give them bulk, while asking the piano to either oppose, comment, or maybe ornament. Even when the strings pause, the piano writing is rich and a bit florid, thickening with rippling arpeggios in the opening movement. It's as if he had a restless left hand that needed constant activity.

Still, that fidgety left hand allows some space here and there, and the middle scherzo (the work has five movements) benefits greatly from the concentration of the left hand's energies in concert with the right. While you might think that a scherzo would be the contrast movement, perky where the second, slow movement is lugubrious, the truth is that the entire "Trout" quintet is kinda caffeinated and bubbly (perhaps explaining the works' enduring popularity). It's all sunny, cheery tunes and bouncy rhythms from beginning to end, exuding the kind of charms we're accustomed to hearing in Mozart. Like Mozart, you will also note a fair amount of elegance in the "Trout" (the odd, rumbling bass note aside), and this is amplified by the occasionally fussy playing of the members of the Belcea Quartet--an odd contrast to the pianism of Mr. Adès himself, who is a bit more straightforward.

Mr. Adés also anchors the ensemble for his own piano quintet, where, at times, I found myself wishing for a pianist with a stronger personality to balance the forceful character of the Arditti Quartet's reliably brilliant musicianship. Mr. Adès emphasizes a kind of episodic storminess in his writing and this work is no exception. With such sensational, sensitive partners here, it can be breathtaking, although a bit pointless at times and his longer phrases are usually softer things that have a tendency to feel meandering--especially in contrast to the clear melodism of the other work on the disk.

7 out of 10

CDs listened to today:

• Steven Mackey: Tuck And Roll
• The Kooks: Inside In/Inside Out
• Luciano Berio: Rendering Per Orchestra
• Grazyna Bacewicz: Symphony No. 3
• The Blow: Paper Television
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything