Belcea Quartet - Debussy, Dutilleux, Ravel: String Quartets (2001)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 288 Mb | Total time: 71:16 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 5 74020 2 | Recorded: 2000
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 288 Mb | Total time: 71:16 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 5 74020 2 | Recorded: 2000
This Debut CD confirms the impression I’d formed from broadcasts of a highly talented, exceptionally well-integrated ensemble. Their excellent balance is highlighted by crystal-clear recording. The opening of the Debussy, brisk and forceful yet with plenty of variety and meticulous in observing the composer’s directions, immediately inspires confidence. After a while, though, I started to wonder whether the playing was a bit too careful and controlled; the Vertavo Quartet, not quite as slick and with more soft-edged recorded sound, give a much more spontaneous effect, with delightful and very idiomatic touches of rubato. Similarly in the Ravel, the Belcea performance brings out all the subtleties of texture and timbre, the fascinating cross-rhythms, the sweetly nostalgic emotional tone.