This is the debut release by the
Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin
, a chamber offshoot of the venerable
Staatskapelle Berlin
orchestra, and from all indications, the grouping will be a fruitful one. One might not incline toward this most Germanic of ensembles for the mostly Italian program here, but the fact is that the playing is very fine. In combining
Verdi
's
String Quartet in E minor
with
Puccini
's single-movement string quartet
Crisantemi
("Chrysanthemums"), the quartet is on well-trodden ground. Somewhat more novel is the inclusion of
Tchaikovsky
String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11
, but of course, this makes sense;
, as much as
and
, was known for music in larger forms. This is an early
work and does not quite display his mature emotionalist style, but it makes an interesting foil for the
, which arguably sounds more like the operatic
than the
does like the operatic
(although there are hints of
Aida
in the latter), despite
's youth when he composed it (it dates from 1890). The quartet draws a nice contrast between the highly melodic, almost transcendent lyricism of the
and the more contrapuntal structure of the
, which aimed more toward the grand string quartet tradition. The
is crisp and balanced. The only real complaint here is over-intimate miking at the Pierre Boulez Saal, but this is something easily solvable in future releases by this group; one can look forward to these. ~ James Manheim