In this 2006 release of Dvorák's String Quartet, Op. 105, and Piano Quintet, Op. 81, the
Psophos Quartet could be more together tonally -- too often, it slides out of tune. Furthermore, these four young women from the Lyon Conservatory could also be rhythmically tighter -- too often their pulse seems to slip off the beat. What's more, they and pianist
Dana Ciocarlie could surely be more interpretively reserved -- too often their intent seems to wring the maximum amount of emotion out of the music. But aside from those criticisms, this is a strongly if strangely compelling disc. In driving to get everything it can out of the music, the
Psophos Quartet and
Ciocarlie find qualities in Dvorák's music that one usually doesn't hear there: a keening lyricism, a passionate expressivity, and a restless intensity that may to some seem excessive but to others like just the thing for the Bohemian composer's music. Ar Re-Se -- "those ladies" in the language of Breton -- is the world's first all-woman classical label, and the digital sound here is rich, deep, and full, if unfortunately not always clear enough.