Since its debut CD of
Haydn quartets in 2006,
Quatuor Ebène has continued to produce recordings of distinction and outstanding individuality. Between its first CD and this 2011 release of
Mozart quartets, the group has demonstrated its versatility with recordings of
Bartók,
Brahms, the
Debussy,
Ravel, and
Fauré quartets (which won a Gramophone Record of the Year Award), and a crossover album of jazz arrangements of popular songs. The
Mozart album, which includes two quartets and a divertimento, offers further evidence of the quartet's considerable gifts. The most striking element in this performance is the variety of textures and colors the players draw from their instruments. Their broad timbral spectrum highlights and gives drama to the contours of the musical journey of each movement. In the opening movement of the Quartet in D minor, K. 421, for instance, the piercing, golden brilliance of the second phrase comes like a lightning bolt after the gauzy, spectral stillness of the first phrase; who needs an orchestra when four players can produce this kind of striking timbral and textural contrast? Another distinguishing mark of the quartet is the sensitivity of the phrasing. Even when the lower instruments are in a clearly accompanimental role, their lines are shaped with such deft nuance that they would hold a listener's rapt attention even without the featured solo of the first violinist. The members play with exceptional attentiveness to each other and to details of the composer's intentions. Each has gorgeous tone and their blend is seamless. The title of the album,
Dissonances, should not frighten away traditionalists; it refers to the C major Quartet, K. 465, the introduction to whose first movement was harmonically daring at the time of its composition, but which is unlikely to sound surprising to 21st century ears. Virgin's sound is clean, open, and detailed.