This is a high-powered group of players, and these are high-powered, gutsy live performances. There are no regularly constituted string sextets for the simple reason that the repertoire is pretty much limited to these two works, one by Dvorák, a half dozen by Boccherini, and a host of forgotten works by largely forgotten composers. But what exists really is special.
It may be that the presence of so many strong musical personalities leads to a less cohesive ensemble than in the reference version by the Talich Quartet and friends on La dolce volta, or even the Raphael Ensemble on Hyperion. I can imagine some listeners wanting a less emphatic, more lyrically effusive opening to the First Sextet’s slow movement, but the scherzo captures all of the music’s Haydnesque wit, and the finale pulses with life. The Second Sextet too has none of the hesitancy we sometimes hear in its first subject, or at the start of the scherzo, and the confidence of the playing does wonders in directing our attention to otherwise buried contrapuntal lines. These are, in short, beautiful, distinctive performances.
The live sonics are appropriately vivid, perhaps a touch too close-up (a bit of distracting heavy breathing at the start of the First Sextet), but the audience is dead quiet–until the end of both works, that is, where the presence of applause, however well-deserved, is annoying. No matter. This is a lovely release of two masterpieces, still too little known. It’s a keeper.
