Trout Quintet / Quartet No. 12 In C Minor (Quartettsatz)

This release features the Smetana Quartet alongside pianist Jan Panenka and bassist František Pošta, recorded for the Supraphon label and licensed for international distribution by Crossroads in 1966. The Trout Quintet, Schubert's celebrated Piano Quintet in A Major, is renowned for its lighthearted spirit and the inclusion of the composer's own song 'Die Forelle' as a theme for the variations. The coupling with the Quartettsatz, a fragment of his twelfth string quartet, offers a bridge between the exuberant quintet and the dramatic, innovative intensity characteristic of Schubert's later chamber works.

The Smetana Quartet was globally recognized for their technical precision and distinctively unified ensemble sound, having been established in 1945 in Prague. Their partnership with Panenka became a hallmark of mid-century chamber music recordings, favored by listeners for its balance of formal clarity and sensitive phrasing. Crossroads, a subsidiary of CBS, was instrumental during this period in bringing high-quality European classical recordings to the American market at an accessible price point, contributing to the broader appreciation of Eastern European performance traditions.