Melos Quartett - Sibelius & Verdi: Quatuors a cordes (1987)

Both quartets on this disc are by composers who were not known for their chamber music, and in the case of Verdi, the E minor quartet stands completely outside his usual mode of composition. The Sibelius quartet, while it veers far from the well worn path of late-romantic chamber music, lies comfortably within its composer's milieu, with its angular harmonies, stark melodies, and overall enigmatic mood. The Melos Quartet is to be commended, for these players do much to demystify Sibelius's score, revealing a coherence all too shrouded in the Gabrielli Quartet's performance on Chandos, with its slower tempos, legato playing style, and over-reverberant recording. The Melos group makes clear the link between this work and Sibelius' Symphony No. 4, which followed soon after. Both works feature nervously playful scherzos, and adagios that are constructed on fragments that only coalesce into a theme near the movement's end.

Verdi's one excursion into chamber music (he felt that instrumental music was for Germans) is unexpectedly by-the-book, even academic. The piece was written as an exercise and was never really intended for publication. Nonetheless, it displays classic Verdian wit and charm, especially in the singing melody of the second movement, and the mischievous doings of the finale. The Melos players take a light approach but add plenty of bite to their phrasing when called for. The fine sounding recording provides a good seat in a smallish hall. A chamber lover's treat. -- Victor Carr