Quatuor Ysaye - Schumann: String Quartets Op. 41 (2004)

Although there have been several fine recordings of Schumann's String Quartets, Op. 41 -- those of the Gabrieli and Lark Quartet immediately come to mind -- and several superb classic recordings of the works -- those of the Juilliard and the Drolc and of course the magisterial Budapest immediately come to mind -- but hands down, far and away, and absolutely without question the best recording of Schumann's String Quartets, Op. 41, is this one by the Quatuor Ysaÿe.
You know how the really great performance of Schumann's music -- Furtwängler's Symphony No. 4, Wunderlich's Dicheterliebe, and Richter's Fantasia come immediately to mind -- make Schumann sound like he was actually a great composer and not just a second-rate early Romantic with delusions of grandeur? That's exactly what the Quatuor Ysaÿe's performances do for the quartets: reveal the passion, the fantasy, the depth, the soulfulness, and the greatness of the music. Listeners who recall the Quatuor Ysaÿe's recording of the quartets of Debussy and Ravel, who recall what critics called the best recordings of the works in 60 years, will know what to expect. Everyone who loves great quartets playing should hear this disc. Aeon's sound is close and warm and amazingly present.