The Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet
was founded in 1999 by Riko Fukuda and Pieter Smithuijsen to play music for the unusual combination of fortepiano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. For most listeners this instrumentation is associated primarily with Schubert’s Trout Quintet. But Schubert was not the only composer to write for this combination, nor the first; it is believed that he was inspired by a piano quintet of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, in whose honour the Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet is named. Research by members of the quintet in various European libraries has so far brought to light more than twenty-five little-known (or completely unknown) quintets from the 19th century.

The Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet is convinced that the best way to bring these works to life is by performance on authentic instruments, to stay as close as possible to the composer’s original intentions. The string players play on gut strings, and a permanent collaboration with piano restorer and collector Edwin Beunk enables the ensemble to play with any type of piano that is suitable to the pieces. Therefore the instruments played by Riko Fukuda each correspond to the time and place in which the music was written and performed. The listener travels back in time to when the pieces first were played, in an intimate 19th century salon, with the composer’s inkt still wet on the page.

The Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet has recorded seven quintets for the Brilliant Classics label: by Ferdinand Ries and Franz Limmer, the latter a world premiere recording (92200), and by Jan Ladislav Dussek (the earliest composition known for this instrumentation), Johann Nepomuk Hummel and George Onslow (93203). Both CDs were awarded a 10 out of 10 rating by Luister magazine in The Netherlands, and received international acclaim. In 2008 a third CD was released with a quintet of John Baptist Cramer, another world premiere recording, and Schubert’s Trout Quintet (93771). Their most recent recording with the quintets of Johann Nepomuk Hummel op.74 and George Onslow op. 70 is expected to be released in the late 2010.