Pianokvintett Nr. 1, Pianokvintett Nr. 2

When I moved to Karlskrona in late 2000, a junk-shop near my first apartment there had a large stock of records that I'd sometimes idly browse through. In the course of my visits it occurred to me I wouldn't mind getting myself a record player and a stash of old vinyl, and in due course it happened (the following year) that I found a cheap '70s-style turntable plus speakers and headphones and brought them home along with a first few albums.

Among the records they had was a classical disc with a rather off-putting picture of the composer Franz Berwald staring sternly from its cover. After I'd bought a variety of other classical LPs from the same place, I thought I'd try actually listening to this one, to see whether its contents matched the cover. I was delighted to find they did not: the two quintets on the album were both charming, vibrant & melodic works, with the closing part of the Quintet No. 2's Allegro Vivace 2nd movement being a particular highlight.

Berwald, I later learned, had struggled to find any recognition for his music in his native Sweden, achieving a measure of success in Germany and Austria. Even so, he had to take a succession of non-musical day-jobs to keep himself afloat. The two Quintets were relatively late works, composed in the 1850s, by which time Berwald was also managing a glassworks. This is a Swedish release on the Telestar label (date unknown) of a 1962 recording by pianist Robert Riefling with the Benthien Quartet: while the recording shows its age, the performance is lovely.

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