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Writing in 1858, Albert Stadler explains how the 'Trout' Quintet burgeoned from the 'Forelle' lied: 'He wrote it at the special request of my friend, Sylvester Paumgartner, who was absolutely delighted with the delicious little song. At his wish the Quintet had to preserve the structure and instrumentation of the Hummel Quintet, recte Septuor, which at that time was still new. Schubert soon finished it.' Paumgartner was a mining official at Steyr, west of Vienna, and a local Maecenas, who played the cello. The surroundings could not have been more congenial, as Schubert wrote later to his brother: 'The country around Steyr is inconceivably lovely.' Moreover there were other diversions: 'At the house where I lodge there are eight girls, nearly all pretty.' The result in the quintet is a work of relaxed beauty that needs only the most affectionate playing to come vividly alive. The Trio Wanderer and colleagues make a wondrous moment of the start to the first movement development [listen -- track 5, 8:14-9:18]. Not everything in the performance is of this standard, and there is a lurking suspicion the team may feel more at home with Hummel and his effective brilliance. But in gratitude to Paumgartner, who might have envied this moment, it is worth savouring the cello variation in the 'Forelle' movement [listen -- track 13, 0:00-1:23].

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