Schubert: String Quartet in G, D.887; Piano Trio in E flat, D.897, “Notturno” Takacs Quartet; Andreas Haefliger, piano (London)
Schubert: String Quintet in C, D.956 Petersen Quartet, Michael Sanderling, cello (Capriccio)
The Franz Schubert bicentenary year may be winding down, but the torrent of recordings continues to flow. These two new discs stand out from the crowd, offering outstanding performances of Schubert’s two greatest late chamber works for strings. In the String Quartet in G major, the Takacs Quartet’s lean, sinewy timbres suit their intensely driven reading of Schubert’s final and darkest essay in this form. The broad span of the first movement is dexterously paced and the Andante is riveting, played with a deadened, numb quality that feels just right. Perhaps the Landler section of the Scherzo is taken too slowly, but that’s a small patch on an otherwise supreme achievement.
Like the Takacs players, the Petersen Quartet and cellist Michael Sanderling offer a dramatic and sharply focused reading of the String Quintet in C major, the astringent quality of the Petersen’s violins suiting the raw honesty of their performance. While the Quintet is more outwardly serene, the German musicians bring a searing intensity to the work’s darker corners, with jarring ostinato outbursts and cries from the heart that are nerve-jangling in their emotional force.
