Lindsay String Quartet - Dvorak: String Quartet No.12 "The American" and No.13 (1992)

The Lindsays are England's finest active string quartet. They have a somewhat raw and edgy sound, but they perform with a passion and spontaneity that makes up in excitement what they sometimes lack in seductive tone. They attack these two quartets as though their very lives depended on it, and while this makes for a very high-pressure The American Quartet,the performance of No. 13 is simply electrifying. In a way, this is more important, because The American Quartet is so charming as to be almost performer-proof. It always works. No. 13, on the other hand, is a flaming masterpiece that repays the 110 percent conviction it receives here. A great quartet record. -- David Hurwitz