When Antonín Dvořák died in 1904 it was written that for some men: 'Composition is a living necessity; more—life's greatest ecstasy. What perfume is to a flower, and song to a bird, musical composition is to them.'

The two works recorded here come from different periods in Dvořák's career. In the String Quintet in G he dispenses with a second viola, instead placing a double bass beneath the single cello, but textural richness is not the composer's aim: one can listen to passages of the work without sensing any pointed differences from quartet texture.

Similarly, the success of the Piano Quintet in A rests on its happy reconciliation of forces. Dvořák's early attempts at composing for the piano had been hampered by his own lack of familiarity with the instrument, but in this work he achieves a remarkable fluency, with five instruments operating as consistent equals and in harmonious unity and balance.