I
may be wrong but I have a feeling that compilations of
this kind were more common some decades ago, even so they
do pop up now and then. A fine Hyperion disc along the
same lines with The Delmé Quartet comes to mind. The discs
are similar insofar as they are not solely collections
of lollipops but include good helpings of music off the
beaten track. The only piece common for both collections
is the lovely Crisantemi by Puccini, written in
1890 and re-cycled three years later for his break-through
opera Manon Lescaut. Both groups play it excellently
but the Leipzig players wring even more of Mediterranean
sweetness from it. While the Delmé chose only authentic
string quartet music, the Leipzig also include pieces for
other constellations arranged for quartet. I would have
liked some more commentaries in the booklet stating what
is arranged and by whom.
Schubert’s
famous Quartettsatz in C minor is true quartet music
here given a dramatic reading. Hugo Wolf’s Intermezzo,
is in part cosily conversational but also agitated and
harmonically bold. The serene Cavatina from Beethoven’s
Quartet op. 130 is one of the master’s finest creations
and it is played here with the utmost sensitivity. For
me this is desert-island music. The Variations from Haydn’s
Emperor Quartet could hardly be bettered either and, amended
by viola-player Hartmut Rohde, they give a very convincing
rendering of Bruckner’s enigmatic Intermezzo with
its mixture of sorrow and happiness and its sudden stand-stills.
The
two short Bach pieces and Isaac’s Sequentia sound
good for string quartet and so does the Albumblatt, a
late Wagner composition which could be a farewell. Piazzolla’s Four,
for Tango is a quite threatening work with shrill dissonances
reminding me of Bernard Herrmann’s music for Psycho. Hindemith’s Holländer overture
is frankly the most hilarious Wagner pastiche imaginable,
the only snag being that, according to the title, it should
be played by “a second-rate concert orchestra”; the Leipzig
Quartet are not bad enough to sound second-rate. What Hindemith
has done with Wagner’s music is rewrite it and add wrong
notes that bad players are supposed to produce every now
and then. Here the effect is of a world-class string quartet
playing thrilling modernistic music. There is no mistaking
their playing for half-hearted amateurism. And of course
who would want to have it badly played for repeated listening?
And don’t be surprised when you suddenly realise that a
sheet from a Vienna Waltz by mistake has been stuck in
between two pages near the end. Great entertainment.
After
the last Bach piece they round off the whole programme
with a spicy Scherzo, one and a half minute long,
by Charles Ives.
The
Leipziger Streichquartett, founded in 1988, has a repertoire
of more than 270 works by 70 composers and has recorded
about 65 CDs. This collection contains highlights from
this repertoire but everything is newly recorded. The sound
is state-of-the-art, the playing is technically impeccable
and there is such unanimity in their music-making that
can only be the result of lengthy acquaintance and serious
consideration of details and overall approach.
Of
its kind this is a disc that goes straight to the top of
the list and anyone wanting a varied and thrilling collection
of mainly shorter pieces, ranging from Renaissance to late
20th century need look no further.
Göran Forsling
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Leipziger Streichquartett, Hartmut
Rohde (viola) (Bruckner) 
