Recording quality is excellent and the Leipzigers are evidently very comfortable in this repertoire. Tremendous playing and the slow movements are particularly melancholy. If you like this quartet played with a little more darkness then this is the one for you. The final recording was the Leipziger Quartet. Another enjoyable and refreshing take on this quartet.

It may have lacked a little subtlety at times and there was the odd dodgy chord but it was live and what it lacks in these departments it makes up for in gusto. The Escher Quartet's live recording is fiery and brusque. Another excellent performance, beautifully recorded and perfectly executed. Great ensemble playing and very impressive. Apart from a slightly toppy, reverberant sound this was a really good account and the finale is lightning quick (one of the few that clocks in under 5 minutes). So first this morning it was the Jean Sibelius Quartet. I can only listen to so many (plus there were none left that I had access to). What a great way to finish today's excellent listening.Ĥ more Sibelius today and that's it. This is one I'm going to have to purchase (I've just been sampling the rest of the disc - Janacek and Schulhoff - and that's just as impressive). The Henshels empty the emotional water-well during the big central movement and are equally compelling elsewhere. I'm having something to eat.Įdit: just finished listening to another exemplary recording from the Henschel quartet and its a belter. Todays final recording is from the Henschel quartet but you'll have to wait for that. It's paired with a very impressive version of Sallinen's 3rd Quartet too. Yes there were a few little bits of scrappy ensemble but the recording was so persuasive I actually forgot about them. Nice, immediate, closely-miked performance and bags of enthusiasm. Another string quartet I've heard little by, the Swedish Fresk quartet, were my next port of call. If you do like the acoustic this could be for you as the performance is terrific. For me it detracted a little from the performance. This is one you'll have to listen to, to see if you like the sound. Yet crank it up and it sounds much better. The performance is damn good, I mean really good, but the sound is quite cavernous at low volume, especially in slow movements. This afternoon I tried the American Skyros quartet and this is a strange one. Next up were the Coull quartet and whilst this was a perfectly decent run-through it lacked the character of the previous two recordings from today and particularly the beauty of the Gabrielis. I doubt if I've heard anyone play the first movement as convincing as that! With playing of such quality it's hard not to be enthralled and the acceptably reverberant acoustic actually added to this performance. The Gabrielis were broader and maybe not as immediate but their tone is ravishing and I really dug this one. I really couldn't find anything in the least detrimental in this recording - the sound was excellent, playing agile and involved. To kick things off the New Helsinki quartet play through a fine Sibelius quartet. Hence I worked my way through a number today and thankfully it was a lot more pleasurable than yesterday. Had my time outta class today some time to catch up a bit more. So a bit of a poor listening experience today. The performance is good ( but nothing special) but in comparison to the similarly aged Grillers who play with far more joy and vivacity and are captured in far more pleasing sound, its a non-starter. I really couldn't get past the very boxy and scratchy sound here. Today's listening (unlike yesterday's) ended in a bit more disappointment with the Budapest Quartet's mid 50s recording. The Vertavo recording was very good and technically excellent but there's just not enough buoyancy or bounce, particularly in the final movement. Still decent, though, and much better than the rather dull Kamus Quartet who I actually found myself skipping thru a little hoping for something to grab me but it never did. The only dealbreaker here is a quite small soundstage which doesn't give the quartet enough width and room to breathe and gives a very compact sound. Anyway, try as they might the Melos Quartet definitely kept me awake with their 'nervy' playing that I found very enjoyable and they have ample weight too. Apologies for the double post but I got in 4 today (due to waking up at 5am for some unknown reason and not being able to get back to sleep).

Ravel string quartet sibelius file