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Site review by Polly Nomial November 10, 2008
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
When listening to playing like this, it evokes the feeling of coming home*.
Opening with the first Razumovsky quartet, the mood is relaxed and almost joyful. The Quartetto Italiano are almost classical in their approach to the score with scrupulous manners, a relatively thin sound (by some standards of modern quartet playing today) yet an almost ever present vibrato. Details are naturally brought to the fore with a delicious nudge here or there, none of the sit-up-and-listen approach that many favour these days (and illustrated well here: Beethoven: The String Quartets - Prazak Quartet). For some this tactic might now seem a little under-powered but during a performance, it just seems right and few others manage that effect in these works (SACD or otherwise). This is especially apparent in the much earlier quartet that completes the disc, with an Allegro con brio that bubbles away delightfully rather than being continually pressed. A direct comparison with the Prazak shows that the timings here are all slower (the finale by nearly 2 minutes) but there is no feeling of dragging or steadfastness, rather a natural unfolding of the musical argument and (so far as is ever possible) letting the score speak for itself. There are moments when, by the standards of playing today, there would probably be a couple of bars here or there that would be patched but these pale into insignificance when set against such marvellous musicianship.
The sound is very open and, as is the norm with recordings emanating from Musica Theatre - Le Chaux de Fonds, wonderfully well balanced and the Quartetto Italiano have an uncanny presence (albeit well set back - there is no hint of close microphones) in ones listening room. As seems to be a common feature of the Philips chamber quadrophonic recordings, the sound is markedly thinner as the violins move above the stave but this is not Pentatone's doing (many a RBCD reissue from the same source have this effect as well). Such is the persuasiveness of the playing though that all this is of little importance to the enjoyment of all but the most avid audio-holic.
Desert island playing and very warmly recommended.
*: I hope and assume that for most people here - and also mean to imply in the context of the review - that this is usually a pleasant experience.
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Copyright © 2008 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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