French Piano Quintets 1875 - 1925

[LateRomantic75]

Biarent's Piano Quintet is a masterpiece, full of a riveting passion similar to Franck's PQ, to which it is very much equal in quality.

[minacciosa]

Paul LeFlem's Piano Quintet is the opposite of Biarent. It's extremely inward looking and almost serene on the surface. I also love Pierné's quintet, which is built on Basque rhythms.

[jdperdrix]

I've listened to Biarent's quintet. Nice music, but not the same level as Franck's, in my opinion. I'm listening to Charles Koechlin's quintet. I'll have to hear it again. It's impressive and not obvious to understand. Widor's second quintet is on the catalogue at jpc.com. I've ordered it and still waiting. I'll also add to my list of interesting quintets the one by Florent Schmitt. But, apart from Franck's, my favorite is Vierne's... written shortly after his son's death during WW1 (a very sad story, worse than one can figure out).

[LateRomantic75]

Koechlin's Quintet is certainly an impressive work which is permeated with the shadows of WWI. Like you say, it's not a very forthright work and is rather elusive, but that's all part of Koechlin's mysterious and fascinating persona. Vierne's riveting Quintet was also inspired by the horrors of WWI, but is a more angry and impassioned work than the more reflective Koechlin.