The recorded sound is also remarkable, clear and forward with just the right amount of light natural room reverb to make them sound as if they were playing in your living room. An absolutely outstanding release.

The Quartetto Italiano was the first of the new post-war groups that inaugurated a new golden age of String Quartets: the Quartetto Italiano was formed in 1945, the Juilliard String Quartet and LaSalle Quartet in 1946, and the Janáček and Amadeus quartets in 1947. Audite here brings us three CDs worth of fabulous recordings for RIAS ("Radio in the American Sector" of Berlin). The RIAS studios were excellent, and their engineers highly accomplished, so we have (as with the Amadeus Quartet album I reviewed late last year) an excellent idea of how these musicians sounded, in this case between 1951 to 1963. The group's repertoire is interesting, especially considering the period: Donizetti, Malipiero and Cherubini provide an Italian antipasto, if I may be permitted a metaphor (pun!) in questionable taste (taste!). Their 1959 Ravel interpretation is searching, and sometimes fierce; maybe even more so than their late recordings of core repertoire. This is a standout performance, though it's perhaps less than Gallic. The early String Quartet no. 8 by Schubert, from 1963, has the characteristic QI sound of their studio recordings of the Viennese masters: it's taut and tight and intense, eschewing sentimentality and emphasizing structure over story-telling. The first of the Haydn String Quartets op. 77 is the earliest recording here, from 1951. It's sunnier and more fun (to listen to, and I expect, to play) than the more disciplined Haydn the Quartetto Italiano developed later in their recording career. These recordings are at a higher level in both sonics and interpretation than your average historic releases, and the excellent documentation and the fact that a number of the works have never been released, make this a must-listen for chamber music fans.

Este cofre es imprescindible para seguidores serios, investigadores o meros aficionados a la música de Schumann. La primera y primordial razón es la espléndida presencia de la orquesta de Colonia, cuya plenitud sonora, disciplina y libertad son sensacionales.

A total of 548 minutes offering a monumental chamber music milestone recorded with a in, natural, resonant sound. Profuse program notes are provided, and the set is mid-price. Essential for chamber music fans!

The particular twist in the Quartetto di Cremona’s coupling of Schubert’s two most popular late string masterpieces is their use of four instruments once owned by Nicolò Paganini – one of only six quartet ‘sets’ made by Antonio Stradivari. Under the fingers of these players (actually Genoese, despite the name of the ensemble), the instruments sound rich and even, recorded in an acoustic that allows the sound an attractive bloom. Combined with thoughtful interpretations, this makes the present two-disc package recommendable as a coupling of these two monuments of the repertoire.

It’s the same coupling with which the Pavel Haas Quartet won the Chamber category of the 2014 Gramophone Awards.

And, really, comparisons between the two recordings are encouraging. Perhaps the Czech ensemble receive the slightly more intimate recording, although the halo of glowing resonance in their Prague studio is one of the many winning joys of their set. Tempos differ only slightly between the two recordings and both groups demonstrate an acuity born of long and pleasurable experience with both pieces.

The PHQ, however, display an extra degree of responsiveness, for example in the repeated accompaniment figures that power so much of this music from within. Not that it ever becomes simply dogged repetition in the Cremona Quartet’s reading; but the Pavel Haas players inflect these rhetorical figures with a unique, innate understanding. The PHQ’s bearers of the two works’ overflowing melody – not limited to the first violinist – react just a touch more acutely, refusing to play anything quite the same way twice. Nobody will be unhappy with the finely played, deeply considered readings of the Quartetto di Cremona. But the Pavel Haas Quartet are something else, and will take a lot of beating.

[Josu de Solaun] ahora se acompaña con la violinista Franziska Pietsch, una intérprete habitual del sello Audite, para ofrecer dos Sonatas que coinciden en que sus autores vivieron cada momento de su vida pensando y sufriendo en la situación política que les tocó vivir.

The playing is of the highest level. It is very interesting and musically convincing to hear these viols in this kind of repertoire [...] This disc is a substantial addition to the discography of renaissance music.

Les deux Quatuors de Schumann sont ardents, hantés, d’une facture éblouissante, le Quatuor Op. 77 No. 1 de Haydn prodigieux d’esprit et de poésie, mais l’apport majeur de cet ensemble est bien le 8e Quatuor de Schubert, joué comme un cri, sostenuto, enfiévré, d’une tension intenable, vraie musique du bord de l’abîme. Et dire qu’un tel coup de génie dormait dans les archives depuis soixante-huit ans !

Ein historischer Gipfelmoment der Klavierkunst, den man nicht verpassen sollte, zumal dessen technische Aufarbeitung mit modernen Mittel zu einem echten Hörgenuss führt.

Es difícil pensar en mejores versiones que las que aquí nos ofrecen Pietsch y De Solaun de estas dos obras magníficas cuya complementariedad aparentemente imposible es extraordinariamente interesante. Ambos asumen la pasión reinante, la fuerza tremenda que por momentos y por cuestiones expresivas diferentes propone cada obra, con una técnica impecable, llegando al límite de la propuesta de sus autores por la vía de la entrega y de la inteligencia.