“Is an interesting collection of curiosities. The neglected piece of real interest here is Verdi's String Quartet in E minor… played with exemplary lucidity and feeling by the Leipzig Quartet… and immaculately recorded by MDG.”
4th May 2008
***
“What could be a more seductive five minutes that Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums), a lovely crystellisation of his idiom…….Verdi’s four-movement E minor quartet is substantial, original and unforgettable.”
August 2008
“Respighi’s heavenly Il tramonto, a ‘lyric poem’ (based on Shelley) for soprano and string quartet, shifts the stylistic points of reference forward to Richard Strauss and early Schoenberg. Once again the Leipzig Quartet
sets the emotional temperature at precisely the right level, scoring interpretive points over most rivals by never overindulging the music’s natural opulence. Atmospheric, well-balanced sound too.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
