Takács Quartet, Andreas Haefliger - Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A, String Quartet No. 10 (1999)

This is one of the most beautiful chamber music discs in the catalog. Throughout, the Decca engineers have managed to combine clarity with tonal richness, achieving perfect balances between the piano and strings in the quintet. Both works are similar in form and content, especially notable for their folk-inspired melodies and infectious dance rhythms. However, their similarities are well-disguised here, thanks to the fact that, while the quintet ends in a blazing A major, the quartet opens gently and tentatively in E-flat. This stark transition gives an appropriate and distinct listening context for each work: you'll never have the sense that you're hearing the same music twice. All of the performers, both individually and collectively, are beyond reproach in their warmly idiomatic execution of the music; the liner notes are both informative and thought-provoking. This is an ideal recording, either for novice chamber music listeners, or for those who just want to hear some great Dvorak. -- Barry Guerrero