Amazon.co.uk Review
Beethoven's late quartets were the summation of his life's work, and they're still the biggest challenge in the genre. All string ensembles worth their salt have a go, with the knowledge that their interpretations will be matched against the best. And the best go way back--to the
Budapest Quartet's recordings in 1942, and to the equally magisterial ones from the
Amadeus Quartet in 1960. The Budapest Quartet--formed in 1917--took tempi which are by modern standards very slow, but turned this to great theatrical effect. The Amadeus--born out of the Holocaust--remained quintessentially Viennese in their approach. It's therefore nice to be able to report that the young Skampa Quartet compare very well indeed, and that they too are firmly in the Viennese tradition. Still based in Prague, they are managing to temper their American smoothness of tone with authentically central-European passion, as witness their marvellous playing of the rapt slow movement of Op. 127. Their allegros suggest coiled energy under perfect control; their feeling for the architecture of each work is impeccable. --
Michael Church
