"Louise Farrenc's Piano Quintet No.2 in E Major came about as a result of the critical success of her first piano quintet, Op.30, for the same combination of instruments. Her husband, a music publisher, encouraged her to write another which she did immediately after the premiere of the first. It begins with a short, pregnant Andante sostento introduction which slowly builds to a climax and leads to an Allegro grazioso with its relaxed and somewhat genial main theme.

The second movement, Grav...