Dvořák: Quintets, Op. 81 & 97

Pianist Boris Giltburg and violist Pavel Nikl join the Pavel Haas Quartet for two of Dvořák’s greatest chamber works, the thrilling Piano Quintet no. 2 and the String Quintet op. 97, written while the composer was in the U.S., and steeped in the flavors of his New World Symphony. The extremes of color and dynamics achieved are miracles of music making, and their control is incredible, from the underlying pianissimo string ripples in the piano quintet’s second movement to the string quintet’s boisterous, folk song-inspired final movement, where rhythm is impressively tight, even in the most delicate bars.