Customer Reviews

Schumann Quartets Op. 41, Nos. 1 & 3

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As their catalogue begins to grow and widen, The Lark Quartet still never fails to impress. They seem always in the midst of exploration and rediscovery, whether it's rendering the Borodin string quartets anew, illustrating the breadth and scope of Amy Beach's underestimated chamber works, tackling the modernist bypaths of Aaron Jay Kernis, or illuminating, as they do here, the complex and glorious emotional quagmires inherent every step of the way in Schumann's Op. 41 (Nos. 1 & 3). In the prescient hands of The Lark Quartet, tempi are imaginatively observed, with allegros and prestos pointedly concise and neurotically paced, drawing quite brilliantly on Schumann's penchant for spontaneous mania, and with adagios that teeter on the brink of utter heartbreak and mental exhaustion. Playing of this caliber, sympathy and absolute devotion is, without question, completely absorbing, and is further enhanced by the most realistic and vivid sound. Had The Larks also included the Op. 41, No. 2, which seems inherently possible, as well as critical, they would have soared mightily above all competition.

[Running time: 53:13]

The first time I heard this album was a month ago on a trip to Germany. My friends and I were walking down the old streets of Lindau, Germany late at night and were drawn to this beautiful music coming from inside a cafe. At first we thought there was a live quartet playing, but upon going inside the small cafe, we learned it was this amazing recording. We talked to the owner of the cafe for a while and he treated the 5 of us to a liter of Coca Cola and conversation. It was an amazing night that I will never forgt and it was all due to the beautiful music of the Lark Quartet and Schumann.