Beethoven - String Quartets Op.18 - Quatuor Mosaiques

  
Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent series

I think all three discs in this series of Quatuor Mosaiques recording of the Op.18 quartets are excellent, and I am glad to see them reissued and easily available.

These are Beethoven's earliest quartets and as such often don't attract as much attention as the Rasoumovsky Quartets or the towering masterpieces which are the Late Quartets, but they are very good indeed. Beethoven's String Quartets contain some of his very finest music, in my view, and his genius is well in evidence here. These are in many ways still in the tradition of Haydn and Mozart, but bear Beethoven's distinctive stamp; the fire and passion, for example, as well as lyrical beauty, the introduction of a scherzo rather than a minuet and trio in some quartets, and so on. These may be early works, but they have a maturity and depth of content which makes them far more than just juvenilia - and they are a joy to listen to, as well.

I already have excellent recordings of these quartets by the Alban Berg Quartet and the Takacs Quartet, but I think these may be my favourite. Quatuor Mosiaques are a period instrument ensemble who play with very limited vibrato and this, combined with the warmth of sound from their instruments gives the music a roundedness and inner glow which suits it very well. They are superb musicians, technically impeccable and with an understanding of both the music and each others' playing which makes these performances something very special, in my view.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three discs in this series. They are all superbly played and recorded and very nicely presented. They stand very well alongside the Mosaiques wonderful recordings of Haydn and Mozart, and I recommend them very warmly indeed.