Artemis Quartett, Valentin Erben, Thomas Kakuska - Verklärte Nacht (2006)

The good news is that this is as attractive a disc of late romantic string sextet music as has ever been released. With the young yet poised and powerful Artemis Quartett as the basic ensemble augmented by violist Thomas Kakuska and cellist Valentin Erben from the Alban Berg Quartet, these performances have a warmth, an intelligence, and a soulfulness to rival the finest performers of the past. In the Sextet that opens Richard Strauss' opera Capriccio, the Artemis four plus two are as sweetly nostalgic as cream with honey. In Artemis violinist Heime Müller's sextet transcription of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, the Artemis vier und zwei are as passionately despairing as absinthe with a dash of hemlock. And in Arnold Schoenberg's original sextet version of his early masterpiece Verklärte Nacht, the Artemis quatre et deux are ardently sensual and ultimately transcendent. The bad news is that violist Thomas Kakuska died shortly after this recording was made and thus not only will there never be another recording like this one, there will never be another recording by the Alban Berg Quartet, one of the greatest of the postwar quartets. Anyone who loves the repertoire or great chamber music playing has to hear this disc, especially since Virgin's sound is amazingly evocative.