It makes an unusual and apt coupling to have the Schumann Piano Concerto alongside the most powerful of his chamber works. In both, Pires is inspired to give freely spontaneous performances, at once powerfully persuasive and poetic. In the Quintet it is a delight to get the feeling of interplay between musicians, distinguished individually, who plainly enjoy working together. So after the warmly dramatic contrasts of the first movement, the funeral march of the slow movement brings the keenest concentration, with the detached chords of the opening theme conveying deep mystery. The warmth of the whole performance is reflected in the way that Pires leads the team to play with natural, unselfconscious rubato in all four movements, the speeds perfectly chosen and the structure firmly held together. The rhythmic spring of the playing is a constant delight, too.
In the Concerto Pires is also at her most persuasive. Claudio Abbado has conducted in several previous recordings of the work, notably for Perahia on Sony (1/98) and for Pollini on DG (7/90), yet here with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe instead of the Berlin Philharmonic he is able to match the volatile quality in Pires’s performance with beautifully transparent accompaniment. So the hushed Andante espressivo section in the first movement (track 1, 4'42'') finds the COE flute and clarinet fully matching their soloist in expressiveness. The central Intermezzo is light and fresh at a flowing Andante grazioso, free rubato making it sound like an improvisation. It leads to a sparkling account of the finale, which lightly emphasises the scherzando quality of the writing at a relatively relaxed speed. Two beautifully judged performances, both very well recorded, make this an original and welcome coupling.'