Getting past the Skampa Quartet’s pop idol posing on the CD booklet (I had to take a second glance to make sure my editor had not mistakenly assigned me an InSync album) this release is still about Beethoven, and some pretty serious Beethoven at that. The Op. 127 is the first of the Late Quartets and already the isolation and inward contemplation of Beethoven’s last years are apparent, particularly in the long, meditative Theme and Variations movement, in which the Skampa players maintain an admirable hushed intensity and single minded focus. The rousing finale is one of those Beethoven pieces, like Piano Sonata No. 32’s boogie-woogie variation, that seem to have him traveling through time, in this case visiting a 20th century hoe-down. The Emerson quartet makes the most of the funky three-note “strumming” figure that closes off the exposition and recapitulation, really digging into the chords. The Skampa players are more refined, as if not wanting to get their hands dirty, and they keep the mysterious coda pretty much earthbound, unlike the Emerson, which transports us to another level of consciousness. The lighter and more conventional Op. 135 appears to better suit this group’s warm, legato playing style. Again, the Emerson is more technically thrilling, but the more human-scale playing of the Skampa is comforting, as is the natural sounding recording. Not the ultimate for either work, but nonetheless a very appealing coupling.
