If you love Guillaume Lekeu, you'll have to hear this disc. The music is prime Lekeu: the String Quartet and the Molto Adagio for string quartet are from 1887 and the Piano Quartet is from 1894, the year of Lekeu's death at the age of 24. Thankfully, if one can use the word to describe so tragically early a death, Lekeu at 24 was Lekeu in the prime of life. The ease of his lines, the expressivity of his lyricism, the passion of his harmonies, the strength of his structures, the power of his rhythm: it was all present in Lekeu as the essential Lekeu even at so young an age. Lekeu developed enormously between the Piano Quartet of 1887 and the String Quartet of 1894, and he would no doubt have developed yet further in as yet unforeseen ways when he died, but what there is is as good as it gets. More years would have lengthened his list of works, but the works he'd done were as good as the best. Likewise, this recording by the Spiegel String Quartet with pianist Jan Michiels is as good as it gets for chamber music recordings. With sound by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, the sound is likewise as good as it gets. A wonderful addition to the unfortunately limited Lekeu library.
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