Alban Berg Quartett - Brahms: String Quartets, Opp. 51 & 67 (1993)

Brahms's string quartets are among the composer's most "difficult" works, and they take a bit of effort to get to terms with. It has been said that inside them there are symphonies struggling to emerge, and to some extent one does get the feeling that Brahms was less than fully comfortable with the medium, that it provided restrictions more than opportunities and that the music is too large-scale in feel for the intimacy of chamber music. That said, there is no doubt about his compositional mastery or level of inspiration - that I have a hard time imagining anyone counting the string quartets among their very favorite Brahms works does not mean that they are superior to most of the music written for the medium.

And the Alban Berg Quartet does an overall very impressing work of this music. Now, their approach is nothing if not intense. To an extent that is good, since it removes much of the feeling of these works being too big for the ensembles, but it also means that the music sometimes verges on the oppressive and even violent at the expense of joy and buoyancy. Perhaps it is partially because of the sound quality, but I find - as does the other reviewer here - the performance of the second to be the truly marvelous one in the set; it is still intense, but this time the textures are opulent and the resourcefulness of the ABQ in finding the right shadings and dynamics comes to shine.

The engineering is a tad problematic; the recordings were made at different times in different venues, and the sound is rather digital in the first and third quartets (studio recordings) and certainly has a sharp edge to it. The live recording of the second is much better - clear and well-balanced and allowing the performances to glow. Overall, however, these are very impressive performances and I doubt that you will find a much more convincing rendition of the second quartet. Recommended, though not fully without reservations.