Colorado String Quartet: Brahms, String Quartets Op. 51

American Record Guide Review
SCHUBERT: Quartet 14
MENDELSSOHN: Quartet, op 80 ;Colorado Quartet ; Parnassus 96024 66 minutes

Sometimes I read what I have said about the Colorado Quartet and think "are they really this good?" Every time I hear them I am surprised by their playing--at just how fine a quartet they are.

This recording of Schubert and Mendelssohn is every bit as fine as their Brahms recording (Nov/Dec 1997). In the Schubert they reveal their phrases bit by bit and their pacing is extraordinary. I especially like the way they play the "Death and the Maiden" song and plunge into the variations. The Mendelssohn is perfect--just the right combination of extroversion and introspection, as well as the perfect balance of classicism and romanticism. They have a real sense of freedom with a highly disciplined and highly structured sense of rhythmic movement. Their balances are beautiful, and they play with real tonal imagination and a strong collective personality that is open and welcoming. They blend with and balance each other beautifully. It is impossible to hear where one musician ends and another begins. Their playing is ideal; I have not heard a modern quartet play these pieces better.

FINE
American Record Guide, July/August 2000

Click for More Reviews

Click for the Previous Release!

Parnassus CDs are distributed exclusively in the USA by Qualiton. In the UK by Regis Records Records , in Italy by Fenice, in Germany by Geberhardt Musikvertrieb and in Japan by Tobu Land Trading. If you cannot find them at your favourite record store, please ask for them and please take a moment to tell us