Although the liner notes may exaggerate just a bit in likening a description of Haydn’s famed Op. 33 quartets to those by Joseph Martin Kraus, these five works (two of them claimed to be world-premiere recordings) indeed offer “splendid song” and “excellent harmony”, and even contain no small measure of “unexpected and surprising modulations”. In fact, this exact contemporary of Mozart (Kraus lived one year longer) proves to have an exceptionally good command of the basic stylistic mannerisms of the period, which he accessorizes with a few of his own, favorite devices.
One of these is a tendency toward abrupt endings that prove not to be endings at all but only pauses; there may be a series of these before the movement actually ends–abruptly–for real. There are loads of lovely melodies that don’t always go anywhere, but they always are accompanied by effectively decorative material from the other instruments–or they are simultaneously woven through the texture in pleasing and colorfully scored fashion. Just as there is nothing here that’s hard to listen to–indeed, it’s all quite charming, competently designed, and often very challenging technically–neither is there much that commands deeper listening, the exceptions being the Op. 1 No. 6 that opens the disc (the only four-movement work) and the E major quartet, with its Beethoven-esque opening movement and lovely Adagio, whose varied moods range from contemplation to melancholy to light-heartedness–again, ending suddenly, as if Kraus is saying, “Okay, I’m done. Next movement!” However, in much of his quartet writing Kraus holds our interest through his impressive facility for creating real dialogue among the four instruments–the foundation for good quartet style in this period.
The Salagon Quartet is a newly formed ensemble (2004) whose specialty is 18th-century repertoire. The four players–Christine Busch and Kathrin Tröger (violin), Claudia Hofert (viola), and Gesine Queyras (cello)–are experienced chamber and orchestral musicians, and although the ensemble entity is still maturing, the four women have exceptional interpretive skills and communicative instincts that give solid form and vibrant life to the music even if phrasing and articulation aren’t always as unified and confident as a longer-lived group would exhibit. Regardless, these are very fine performances that truly entertain while bringing us into the world of a deserving if neglected composer. The sound is vivid, capturing the natural timbre of the period instruments, and well-balanced–and it’s fairly close, sometimes putting the audience unusually near to the sounds of musicians breathing and fingers tapping fingerboards. Strongly recommended.
