Mandelring Quartett - Brahms, Dessoff: String Quartets (2007)

This is the third and final disc of the Mandelring Quartet's survey of the complete string quartets of Johannes Brahms. It is the third disc because the German group has ingeniously coupled each of Brahms' three quartets with works written by his friends and contemporaries. Thus the first volume coupled Brahms' C minor Quartet with the A minor Quartet of Friedrich Gernsheim, the second volume coupled Brahms' B flat major Quartet with the G minor Quartet of Heinrich von Herzogenberg, and this third volume couples Brahms' A minor Quartet with the F major Quartet of Felix Otto Dessoff.
Aside from time, place, and acquaintance, two things bind the works on these discs: a thoroughly conservative harmonic style and, more importantly, a complete command of compositional technique. And, as before, those qualities are found not only inBrahms' quartet but in Dessoff's as well. Both works are in four movements; both works are full of memorable themes and both works are supremely well put together. Though Brahms' quartet is undeniably the deeper and darker of the two works here, Dessoff's is indisputably the more charming and tuneful. Imagine a more overtly emotional Dvorák or a more open-hearted Bruch and you have some idea of what to expect.
But, as before, you can expect superlative performances from the Mandelring Quartet. With an ensemble that's tight but relaxed, a tone that's rich but incisive, a sense of rhythm that's always infectious but never overbearing, and a sense of style that's absolutely apt for the music, the Mandelring makes as persuasive a case for both Brahms and Dessoff's quartets. Recorded in 1998 in St. Bartholomäus-Kirche in Birkweiler, the sound of this Audite disc is clear, warm, and evocative. Anyone who has picked up the preceding two volumes will be well pleased with this one, and anyone who hasn't picked up any yet but enjoys late nineteenth century Germanic chamber music will surely enjoy this disc.