Luigi Tomasini is best known as concertmaster of the Esterhazy orchestra under Haydn, and as the principal violin in the quartet that gave the first performances of many of the great master’s works in the medium. Yet like most members of that famous ensemble, he not only was a virtuoso of the first rank (a pupil of Tartini in fact), but also was a composer in his own right, and if you enjoy chamber music of the high classical period then you will certainly want to acquire this disc.
The three quartets included here span a period of about three decades, from the 1770s to the 1790s, the time when Haydn and Mozart perfected the musical language of the Classical period. The D major quartet has three movements (no minuet) in galant style, but with a welcome variety of harmonic incident and distinctive melodic invention. The works of the 1790s are much larger in scale (the B-flat quartet lasts more than half an hour) and are fully developed, with witty and dramatic outer movements, dashing minuets, and in the just-mentioned work an absolutely delicious slow movement in vintage conversational style. The D minor quartet (Tomasini’s only one in a minor key) spends a welcome amount of time exploring its somber home key before the finale switches to the major for the (almost) obligatory happy ending. Its minuet has a particularly Haydnesque cast, though Tomasini is no mere imitator (nor, quite honestly, does his music sustain the same level of dramatic tension, attractive though it undoubtedly is).
Hungaroton’s period-instrument Quartetto Luigi Tomasini plays this music with enthusiasm and really distinguished musicianship. The sonority of the instruments has warmth, never turning scratchy, and their smooth legato is a thing of beauty. At times cellist Balázs Maté shows a touch of strain in some of the music’s more high-lying passages, but this is a very minor deficit, and principal violinist László Paulik does the ensemble’s namesake proud. The finely calculated engineering presents the quartet with ideal clarity in what sounds like a perfectly sized room. Strongly recommended to chamber music fans! [3/19/2004]
