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Published on 7/25/08
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With the presence of Leif Ove Andsnes, the powerfully expressive Norwegian pianist, the Artemis Quartet has found an ideal partner for these two mountains of chamber music. The large-scale works elicit volcanic performances from these players, surprising even those who know their recordings well. Andsnes is a thoughtful player in a wide variety of music, and the Artemis Quartet is never less than passionate in everything it touches, but this disc positively catches fire. Not for nothing are they photographed carrying fluorescent bulbs on the CD’s cover.
Start with one small but telling passage: In Schumann’s quintet, the ground constantly shifts in the Scherzo’s second Trio, with violent rhythms played in a harmonic scheme that’s never in minor or major for long. These performers attack it head on. They treat the finale of Brahms’s quintet in a similar fashion, sounding like an avalanche of sound.
It’s not all violent, and the Andante passages contain some lovely lyrical playing. Andsnes’s rounded tone works well with the grittier sounds of the quartet (Natalia Prischepenko and Heime Müller, violins; Volker Jacobsen, viola; and Eckart Runge, cello).
Sadly, both Müller and Jacobsen recently left the quartet, Jacobsen for family reasons and Müller because of potentially career-ending focal dystonia in his left hand. The vacancies have been filled, and we hope that the quartet can live on and stay at the peak it has attained.
