Album: Carmina Quartet, Teo Gheorghiu Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A major, String Quartet in F major "American" (Sony Classical)

The 1887 Piano Quintet was Dvorák's second attempt at the form. It's most notable for its incorporation of folk themes, particularly the second movement "Dumka", which furnishes pianist Teo Gheorghiu his greatest opportunity, his delicately expressive approach eschewing grand gestures but ensuring that the haunting melody remains suitably foregrounded.

The folk aesthetic continues into Dvorák's "American" String Quartet, composed after studying Celtic immigrant songs and Negro spirituals; not that either supplant the sense of sober formality that dominates the piece, in this sensitive interpretation by the Carmina Quartet.

Download: Piano Quintet II Dumka; String Quartet II Lento