Customer Reviews

Haydn: Trois Quatuors (3 String Quartets)

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These performances served as my introduction to Haydn's opus 20 quartets, so I have no benchmark recording to compare them with. However, these performances are so spectacular that I will probably never feel the need to look further.

The ensemble playing is both sharp as a razor and as warm & comfortable as your favorite chair, dependent upon the passage being navigated. The playing works wonderfully if the listener focuses on the individual parts or the overall shape & structure of the ensemble.

My personal favorite among this batch of quartets is number 2. The Mosaiques tackle the 'Fuga a 4tro Soggetti' as if their brains were were sparkling on caffeine and their dextrous fingers leap for joy as if they had just fallen in love.

I prefer these quartets to the more popular opus 33. In opus 20 we get two quartets in a minor key, and even the major key pieces have a darker, more conflict-ridden appeal. Of course, with Haydn this element of angst and melancholy is never self-indulgent, and is beautifully contextualized by moods of glee, harmony, and wonder.

Fabulous, fabulous recording.