Josef Labor - Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 3

- Composer: Josef Paul Labor (29 June 1842 -- 26 April 1924)
- Performers: Oliver Triendl (piano), Cecilia Zilliacus (violin), Hiyoli Togawa (viola), Valentin Radutiu (cello), Zoran Marković (double bass)
- Year of recording: 2013 (Live in Kempten, Germany)

Quintet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass in E minor, Op. 3, written in 1880.

00:00 - I. Allegro
10:24 - II. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
16:01 - III. Andante
27:25 - IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Czech composer Josef Labor was born in the town of Hořovice in Bohemia, at the age of three he was left blind due to contracting smallpox. Labor knew and was on friendly terms with virtually every musician of importance in Vienna as well as many others living elsewhere, including Brahms, Richard Strauss, Bruckner, Clara Schumann, Gustav Mahler and Bruno Walter.

This piano quintet is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass: the so called “Trout” instrumentation, taking its name from Schubert’s famous Trout Piano Quintet for the same combination [uploaded on this channel]. The impetus for it, no doubt, was Labor’s friendship with Frantisek {Franz} Simandl, a fellow Czech who was a virtuoso bassist whom most considered to be the equal of Dragonetti. Simandl was solo bassist with the Vienna Philharmonic for over 30 years and died in 1912 after a protracted illness. Labor dedicated the work to Simandl as a tribute and it is one of the few such works where the bass has an extremely important part with many solo passages and chances to lead the group.

- The four movement work begins with a powerful and sweeping Allegro. The parts are integrated seamlessly and the melodies are compelling.
- Next comes a playful, light-hearted Scherzo, Allegro vivace, with two highly contrasting trios. The second trio is marked “Mit humor, basso buffo” and here the bass leads the entire way.
- For vitually the first half of the third movement, Andante, the cello alone, with the support of only the piano and very occasionally the violin, sings the gorgeous and highly romantic main theme, surely one of the longest solos in the literature. In the middle section, the bass takes over with a somber and plodding, march-like melody which is then heightened with help from the viola. The movement ends with the bass taking the lead again.
- The finale, Allegro ma non troppo, after a short thrusting introduction, begins with a hard driving and exciting theme which breaks loose with great forward motion. The bass is given powerful short solos bursting with energy as the moods alternate between dramatic and gentle romanticism. The works ends with a hyper dramatic and masterful coda.

The Piano Quintet is dedicated: "Herrn Professor Franz Simandl zugeeignet".