The Nash Ensemble - Shostakovich, Schoenberg: Chamber Works (2000)

Shostakovich's introspective Piano Quintet is one of the composer's supreme achievements. Perhaps it was the subtle nod to Baroque forms as well as the Beethoven-like use of fugue that earned this piece a permanent place in the chamber repertoire. The Nash Ensemble, led by Marcia Crayford and Elizabeth Clayton, shines especially in the playful and colorful Scherzo.
The Waltzes for Flute, Clarinet and Piano are charming and delightful aperitifs, salon pieces at heart that never fail to entertain. The Piano Trio No. 2 of 1944 is a solemn work dedicated to the memory of a recently departed friend. With subtle hints of bi-tonality and a great use of pizzicato effects, the performance here captures the work's dark, eerie and moody character.
Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony is an intense work of the early modern school. Although it is not a twelve-tone work, its polyphonic style gives the work an intense character--and the recording by the Nash Ensemble is certainly one of the most riveting in the catalog.
'Verklarte Nacht' is a densely chromatic work with a passionate Wagnerian cast to it. The Nash Ensemble performs the better known chamber version and gives this work an emotional and dramatic reading.