Polish but Less Elegant(转发)

This 7-CD budget-priced box features the Alban Berg Quartet in fine performances of chamber music masterpieces by Mozart, thus automatically making it a set to consider even though its individual components are available in superior versions. The five discs of Mozart’s mature string quartets display the ensemble’s considerable strengths–technical polish, forceful energy, full-bodied tone, and a penchant for dynamic contrasts that generate excitement. But there’s also a slight deficiency of the grace and naturalness essential to fully convey the spirit of the music, qualities found in abundance in the versions by the Talich Quartet and the Quartetto Italiano. The latter especially finds a depth in these works that’s buried far below the surface brilliance of the Alban Berg players.

Despite that brilliance, I couldn’t shake off a persistent feeling that each movement had been plotted to within an inch of its life. So the Minuets tend to lack elegance, and even the ethereal Andante cantabile of K. 387 sounds self-conscious. No one expects full-blown Romanticism in Mozart, but there’s a chill cast by these players, an emotional distancing imposed by their glossy finish that’s not as intrusive in their admirable Beethoven and Haydn recordings. That impression is reinforced by diamond-hard engineering that adds a further hint of glare to the often uningratiating timbre of the first violin.

The final two discs in the set, from 1986 and 1999, offer fewer grounds for dissatisfaction. Joined by violist Markus Wolf, the two great last string quintets hew closely to the interpretive outlines of the ensemble’s Mozart quartet recordings but exhibit more involvement. The opening Allegro of the C major K. 515 is more genial and elegant, and the Andante flows more gracefully than do most of the quartet slow movements. The G minor, fine though it is, misses the tragic depth of the work. The Bergs underplay the stabbing interjections of the Menuetto, and the last movement’s adagio opening lacks mystery and soulfulness, while the following allegro outburst is understated, sacrificing the full impact of the music to presumptions of “classical” objectivity.

The final disc of the set stems from a live 1999 concert with Alfred Brendel at the top of his form in the E-flat major Piano Quartet and in the A major Piano Concerto No. 12 K. 414, played in the chamber version for string quartet and piano sanctioned by Mozart. In both of these works Brendel’s stylish pianism captivates, and there’s a warmth and spontaneity too often missing from the set’s studio recordings. Judging from other recent Alban Berg Quartet releases, this disc is more indicative of the ensemble’s current approach. But if you appreciate the group’s blend of polished dynamism and buttoned-down classicism in the quartets, this box is a wallet-friendly way to acquire some of Mozart’s greatest chamber works.