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This disc features three of Franz Josef Haydn’s best Quartets, each bearing a nickname: the “Fifth” (from the interval of a falling fifth in the opening Allegro’s main theme), the “Emperor” (because the work’s “Poco adagio” becamse the Austrian national anthem) and the “Sunrise” (from the atmospheric passage which opens the quartet). Coming from Haydn’s Op. 76 set from 1798, they are maybe the center of Haydn’s output in the string quartet genre and contain many wonderful and attractive moments. Besides the compositions themselves, the performers in this release, the Alban Berg Quartet (ABQ), are a leading ensemble with a particular affinity for Classical Era music, including other fine Haydn releases and a couple of Mozart recordings which are outstanding (their set of Mozart’s “Prussian” Quartets and also the big K 5151/516 string quintets). This combination leads to a very fine result.
The ABQ plays several of the sections or movements with especially fine results. One that stuck out to me were the concluding pages of the opening Allegro of the Emperor Quartet (Op 76/3, track 5), where they play the contrasting sections towards the end -- including the accelerating staccato exchanges and the sudden shift into a mysterious half-note chords section in a diminished fifth harmony – with imagination, creating a section that sounds unlike other performances I’ve heard. I also very much liked the intensity of the beautiful and raw Minuet from the “Fifths” Quartet (Op 76/2, track 3) and the Minuet from the “Emperor” (track 7) is played deliciously.
While very good, this isn’t a perfect disc. The “Poco adagio” variations set in the “Emperor” I mention above is a tad listless (track 6). And I enjoyed their playing of the “Fifths” overall but it isn’t quite up there with a great performance by the Quartetto Italiano that for me has stood out over the years. But the principal flaw – and this isn’t the ABQ’s fault – is a very mediocre sound engineering job, thin and lacking in richness or tonal variety. Despite these defects, this is a strong and successful release with many attractions.
