Mozart: String Quartets, K 387, K 421 (2003)

It's not like the world was experiencing a paucity of recordings of Mozart's Haydn Quartets when these recordings were made in 1989. There had been dozens of recordings made over the previous 60 or so years -- but there was a shortage of recordings of the works on period instruments -- the Salomon Quartet's recordings were two years in the future and the Quatuor Mosaïque's recordings were ten years in the future. But even against the best of the earlier modern and later period instrument performances, these performance by ... Read More

It's not like the world was experiencing a paucity of recordings of Mozart's Haydn Quartets when these recordings were made in 1989. There had been dozens of recordings made over the previous 60 or so years -- but there was a shortage of recordings of the works on period instruments -- the Salomon Quartet's recordings were two years in the future and the Quatuor Mosaïque's recordings were ten years in the future. But even against the best of the earlier modern and later period instrument performances, these performance by the Smithsonian Quartet are still among the best ever recorded. Led by Jaap Schroder, the Smithsonian's ensemble is relaxed but tight, its intonation lean but warm, its tempos comfortable but cogent. Best of all, the Smithsonian's interpretations are an ideal blend of intellectual rigor without succumbing to rigor mortis and heartfelt emotion without succumbing to heart-stopping sentimentality. In the Smithsonian's performances, Mozart's G major and D minor quartets sound as deep and... Read Less