On Wenlock Edge is a song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet, published in 1909, setting six poems from A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad. Although there have been a number of recordings of this song cycle recently, this disc features the remarkable voice of Mark Padmore and uniquely adds the early Piano Quintet in C minor, recently released for performance by the composer’s widow and published in 2002, and also the Romance and Pastorale, two similarly early, brief lyric pieces for violin and piano published in 1923. The Quintet was written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double-bass – as was Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet. It is a wonderful early work, full of passion and melodic invention.

This recording marks the Schubert Ensemble’s debut on Chandos and also its 25th anniversary. The Ensemble has always been at the forefront of British chamber music performance and is now firmly established as one of the world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings.