For listeners who know and love every single string quartet that Haydn and Mozart ever wrote and whose only complaint is that they didn't write more, meet Ignace Pleyel. While not in the same league as those two masters' quartets, Pleyel's quartets are still charming enough, inventive enough, and lovely enough to merit an occasional listening. These Quartets (3), Op. 2, from 1784 are three-movement works with pleasant melodies, agreeable harmonies, delightful rhythms, and more than competent if less than inspired structures. As performed here by the more than adequate if less than thrilling
Enso Quartet, Pleyel's Opus 2 quartets have about as much appeal as can be imagined. The
Enso's Allegros have dash, the Menuettos have elegance, and the Adagio cantabile and Andante grazioso have lyricism. For listeners who don't already know every single string quartet Haydn and Mozart ever composed, by all means, try them first. But for listeners for whom Haydn's Opus 1 and Mozart's K. 80 are as mother's milk, Pleyel's Opus 2 may be just the thing to add spice to the aural diet. Naxos' sound is a wee bit distant but functional.