“The chamber ensemble of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s featured four New York composers [Chester Biscardi, Martha Mook, Greg Sandow, and Joan Tower] on an important program of new music presented at the Chelsea Art Museum on Saturday afternoon. The recital is part of their Second Helpings series, wherein the performance is reprised upstate at Dia: Beacon on Sunday…

Finally, violinist Krzysztof Kuznik,violist Louise Schulman, and cellist Myron Lutzke accompanied Ms. Feeney and Ms. Kampmeier in the world premiere of the Piano Quintet of Chester Biscardi, head of the music department at Sarah Lawrence College. Yes, accompanied is the correct word, as the piece is really a duet for violin and piano with a modern version of a string continuo.

The work is inspired by the long-distance relationship of Telemachus and Odysseus, and Mr. Biscardi read a Homeric stanza as a prelude. The composer creates an ancient atmosphere with a craftsmanlike usage of string color, somewhat reminiscent of the orchestral parts in Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia.” The offsetting of the characters was interesting both sonically and dramatically, and the performance was certainly first-rate.”

— Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun (2006)

Simmering with pathos, Biscardi’s Piano Quintet is a loving, touching remembrance by the composer of his father, whom he lost when he was twelve. In a sense, it is more of a duo for violin and piano with accompaniment than a true quintet, the other three strings providing textural support rather than participating with any genuine equality, but this imaginative, sombre, introspective work is Biscardi’s American Classic.
— Byzantion, MusicWeb International Classical Reviews (September 11, 2011)

The 2004 Piano Quintet, while a more abstract work, never stints on its lyrical impulse, and has a morendo ending that seems natural, rather than a precious gesture.
— Robert Carl, Fanfare: The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors (January 2012)