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Title: Silken sound, polished playing
Review: The Tokyo quartet, now restaffed since its original cycle of the Beethoven quartets, gives a silky, elegant performance of the Razoumovsky quartets on this 2-CD set. I really wallow in the sound, especially in the opening of Op. 59, no. 1, where the cello solo gratifyingly reaches into the deep dark colors of the cello and resonates. Bravo! No one can touch this except the Quartetto Italiano. Otherwise, there is a little more restraint, emotionally, than I like with these very romantic pieces. The Razoumovsky quartets are unrivalled for sheer beauty and richness of conception and sound. This recording is more memorable for its clean, elegant qualities than for any new realization of the pieces or distinctive emotional insight. Still, if you relish the sound of super audio CDs (and these are hybrid discs you can play on any CD player - I tried it), you will find these polished renditions are well worth the extremely reasonable price.
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