Artemis Quartet - Brahms, Verdi: String Quartets (2010)

I blush to admit that I had underestimated the Verdi string quartet, having assumed that it would be more operatic and less quartet-y than is my preference. I was surprised, when I first heard it on the Artemis Quartet's 2001 DVD of a live concert, to find via this performance of the Verdi coupled here with Brahms's formally classical Second Quartet, Op. 51, No. 2, that these two quartets are more alike than I had imagined. I couldn't have been more surprised when I got to the fourth movement of the Verdi and discovered that it is largely (and expertly) fugal. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since I know and love the fugal ensemble that ends Verdi's final masterpiece, 'Falstaff' -- the ironic 'Tutto il mondo è burla' ('All the world's a joke'). My tastes tend to be more Germanic than Italian, more pedantic, I suppose, than emotional. The Verdi has plenty of the latter, but a satisfying amount of the former as well. Further, Verdi has had the good sense to supply easily distinguishable motifs and tunes that make the working out all the more enjoyable and certainly easy to follow. The second movement has some delightful operatic tunes in it, but even that movement is constructed along classical lines. The Allegro first movement is rigorously constructed and the Scherzo is invigorating but also includes a meltingly beautiful cello melody in its trio.

As for the Brahms, this is a lovely performance by the young and talented Artemis Quartet. They were formed in 1994 and made this recording in 2001. (Incidentally, the personnel on this disc are the group's original members. They have since changed their second violinist and violist.) They play up the dramatic qualities of the Brahms without slighting the many episodes that are lyrical. The same is true of the Verdi which has even more emotional contrasts than the Brahms.

This, then, is a disc that contains two very satisfying performances of two wonderful quartets. Recorded sound is natural.