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From the first vehement shouts that immediately follow the introduction, at 1:07, it strikes you that this is going to be an urgent, intensely dramatic first movement, and it is. The Raphael Ensemble's timings there put it in the league of the 1990 Emerson Quartet, Schubert: String Quintet in C, d. 956 or the 1994 Orpheus Quartet, Schubert: String Quintet In C Major D 956. Amusing that the lead reviewer under the recording's full-price entry, Schubert: String Quintet D 956, String Trio, would have had the impression that Raphael's was a "slightly more leisurely approach" than Emerson's: subtract the 5 seconds of blank that open the Emerson Quartet's recording, and both movements come within one second of each other; in fact Raphael is 3 seconds faster before the repeat bar and "more leisurely" by two seconds from there to the end. They are slightly more leisurely than Orpheus before the repeat bar, two seconds more urgent after. All this makes them slightly more expansive than the most urgent versions, like Archibudelli in 1990 (Schubert: String Quintet in C, D. 956 / Rondo in A, D. 438), the live 1989 Kagan group (Schubert: String Quintet Op. 163) or the 1994 Borodin Quartet (Schubert: String Quintet), but still places the Raphael Ensemble among those that take an urgent and intense view of Schubert's first movement, as opposed to those that underline the more leisurely and lyrical side of the composition or simply take a more middle-of-the-road approach. Other details among those that contribute to the impression: the biting accents on the accompaniment figure played by viola in the march rhythm that immediately follows the introduction, at 0:54 - not as stinging as with the Emerson Quartet, but in that direction -, the second subject at 1:49 kept flowing despite a slight easing of tempo, the tight staccato runs of second violin when Schubert starts developing that same second subject, at 3:14, the vehement "shouting" after the repeat at 10:16, within an urgent and almost breathless pacing. In terms of timbre and tone this is not the warmest of versions, there is an element of dryness to the players' tonal production, the melodies and counter-melodies don't particularly swell and radiate, but it is entirely in-sync with the approach. In view of such qualities, the lack of clarity in the articulation of some of Schubert's typical and recurring gruppetti by first violin Anthony Marwood (as at 0:48 and again at 1:06) is annoying, but only a small detail.

In fact the other reviewer was pretty unlucky in his choice for a comparison. He might have picked, say, the very spacious Marlboro ensemble from 1986 (Schubert: Quintet in C major,D.956 / The Shepherd on the Rock) or even, more middle-of-the-road, the group of young stars gathered around veteran Isaac Stern in 1993 (Schubert: Quintet,D.956 / Boccherini: Quintet,Op.13,No.5), and the differences of approach there would have been really striking. Here, in the first movement at least, Emerson, Orpheus and Raphael exemplify an approach so similar as to be nearly identitcal, and if Emerson may feel marginally or markedly more high-strung than the two others, it has more to do with the closer and more glaring sonics than with the very few elements of phrasings or dynamics that are indeed more biting.

As Orpheus (and unlike Emerson), Raphael remains consistent in approach in the ensuing Adagio, taking it at a flowing pace, retaining the swaying feel of Schubert's ternary rhythm, and with strong dynamic swells, lending the music an unusually assertive and determined atmosphere rather than the ethereal or funeral one elicited by slower unfoldings. Their middle, agitated central section is very swift and dramatic, but avoids the sense of superficial theatrics sometimes associated here with a faster pacing. Very effective and expressive bridge passage at 8:33 back to the Adagio proper, with its sobbing first violin over ascending scales from second cello, because, interestingly, first violin Anthony Marwood plays his sobbing phrases very staccato, even where the score indicates legato slurs. The only miss I find is the dirge-like passage immediately after the agitated section at 7:47, because the still very flowing tempo adopted by the group at that point doesn't give sufficient weight to the silences embedded by Schubert in the very fabric of his music.

It is worth noting that the Raphael Ensemble follow to the hilt the pronoucements of modern Schubert musicology, however arbitrary these may seem (they are not based on the composer's "Urtext" manuscript, since it is lost, but on the musicologists' surmission of what Schubert's intentions might have been) . Not only does Raphael, as many others, omit the big crashing chord just before the first movement repeat bar the second time around, at 9:53, upon seguing into the development section (which sacrifices the "echo" effect created by the repeat of the same chord in another key just three bars later - I can't believe that there would have been musicologists and musicians to believe that Schubert didn't intend it), and play the Quintet's last chord as a strongly accented one rather than as a diminuendo (I'm ready to admit that it was Schubert's intention, but what a pity: the diminuendo is a masterful ending and the accent is banal), but they also chose the rarely-exercised and much-jarring option of taking the Scherzo's second repeat 27 bars before the end of the section (it happens at 2:20) - only the sixth recording I am aware of to do so, after those of the Juilliard Quartet in 1986 (Franz Schubert: Quintet, D. 956 (C major)), Kocian Quartet in 1987 (Schubert: String Quintet), Hagen Quartet in 1991 (but I'm now out of authorized product links: ASIN B000025EIZ), Brandis Quartet 1992 (ASIN B0000037E9) and Melos Quartet 1993 (ASIN B00007EEKC). Other than that, their Scherzo is fine, vigorous and conveying enough of an impression of "presto" as Schubert indicates, with a middle trio that is kept flowing but with fine hushed atmospheres. They adopt an "average" tempo in the Finale, neither very urgent nor particularly spacious, but flowing enough to give a sense of forward motion to Schubert's "Allegretto", dispel any sense of fusiness in the more "charming" moments, and invest the more dramatic sections with enough intensity. It is really in the Finale that the ensemble's relative tonal dryness might have been felt to lack lyrical bloom, and it is true that the lyrical melodies and counter-melodies may not swell as with the more lyrical and songful versions, but I found that it came well and naturally in the continuity of the rest. Raphael tops it all off with a dashing coda - and a strongly accented final chord.

I wouldn't recommend the Raphael Ensemble's recording as your sole version of Schubert's Quintet - its interpretive choises are just a touch too close of extreme or exceptionable to be the best candidate for that - but it is a fine version nonetheless, and one in particular that can serve as a valid alternative to the more glamorous version of the Emerson Quartet and Rostropovich, as it is very similar to it in the first movement, but less high-strung throughout.

The recording was made in October 1994. The string trio movement D 471 offers an unusual and charming filler, for a TT of 65 minutes, and the Raphael Ensemble plays it with charm and relatively small tone, which is not inappropriate. The liner notes by Julian Haylock are outstanding, among the most informative I've read on the (obscure) circumstances of the Quintet's composition and publication, and on its descriptive analysis.