Brooklyn Rider String Quartet

[Tony Halstead]

Did any other M-boarders listen in to 'In Tune' this evening? I ask because I was totally unprepared for the superlative playing ( in a notorious acoustically 'dead' studio) of the 'Brooklyn Rider String Quartet'.
So wonderful was their 'live' performance of the Schubert C minor 'Quartetssatz' D.103 that I immediately felt guilty that up until about 5.30pm tonight I didn't even know that this Quartet even existed...
What was memorable about their playing was not only that - of course - they played 'perfectly together' ( it doesn't always happen even with famous quartets) but they used 'minimum vibrato' and - wherever appropriate - 'non-tempered intonation' giving a lovely and almost 'viol-like' purity to chords and cadences.

[Bryn]

Tony, we have discussed their recording of Beethoven's Op. 131 here previously. I was very much taken with the low degree of vibrato they employ. However, the reverberant acoustic in which that disc was recorded might put some people off. That Beethoven Op. 131 is on their "Seven Steps" album.

[verismissimo]

Superb Op 131, just as Tony describes their playing.

[verismissimo]

Their playing on In Tune really first-rate, not only the Schubert Quartettsatz, but also a piece by Colin Jacobsen from their Walking Fire album.

Their CDs are not so easy to find on Amazon, given that they lead with their own titles. Walking Fire includes Bartok 2, Dominant Curve includes the Debussy and Seven Steps has the Beethoven Op 131 mentioned above. Each together with music written by members of the quartet or other contemporary composers.

You'll find them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...er%2Caps%2C634