The incredible thing about the Leipziger Streichquartett's 2006 disc Encores is that it works. It works as a concept -- every one of these pieces proves an absolutely apt encore. It works as a program -- taken altogether, these pieces add up to a completely satisfying listening experience. And it works as a performance -- one after another and all together, the performances by the Leipziger Streichquartett are as good as it gets in this repertoire. And why should they not be? The ensemble has demonstrated itself equally adept at the canonical and the esoteric repertoire in recordings of everything from Haydn through Berg and from Ravel through Romberg, so why not encores? Of course, the selection is especially well chosen. The disc starts with a virtuosic performance of Schubert's "Quartetsatz" in C minor, moves through a sumptuous performance of Wolf's Intermezzo in E flat major, a consoling performance of a transcription of Bach's chorale Der Tag ist hin, die Sonne gehet nieder, a serene performance of Isaac's "Sequentia" from his Choralis Constantinus, then a sublime performance of Beethoven's "Cavatina" from his B flat major String Quartet. And that's less than half the disc. The rest is even better. Among other things, there's also a sensuous performance of Astor Piazzolla's Four for Tango, a patriotic performance of Haydn's Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser, a sentimental performance of Puccini's Crisantemi, and -- the encore to end all encores -- a straight-faced performance of Paul Hindemith's Overture to The Flying Dutchman "as Played at Sight by a Second-Rate Concert Orchestra at the Village Well at 7 o'clock in the morning." It sounds even funnier than it reads. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm's sound is beyond comment and criticism.
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