Classical Music

Schubert: Trout Quintet / Adagio and Rondo Concertante

SCHUBERT: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 3

HAYDN: String Quartets Nos. 36-38

Haydn: String Quartets Op. 20, Nos. 1-3, "Sun Quartets"

DEBUSSY: String Quartet No. 1 / RAVEL: String Quartet in F /

"The Kodaly Quartet are fully worthy of the composer's inexhaustible invention and make a splendid bargain recommendation. Their playing brings joyful pleasure in Haydn's inspiration and there is not the slightest suspicion of over-rehearsal or of routine: every bar of the music springs to life spontaneously, and these musicians' insights bring an ideal combination of authority and warmth, emotional balance and structural awareness."

Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Classical Music

SCHUBERT: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 2

HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 76, Nos. 4 - 6

HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 33, Nos. 3, 4 and 6

"The Kodaly Quartet seem very much at home in this music, which they approach with affection, yet with an appealing directness which leads to playing which is perfectly integrated, yet fresh. The recording could hardly be bettered: the balance is most natural."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

"The Kodaly performances are all enjoyable. The B flat major is remarkably successful, with a vigorous opening Vivace assai and a rapt Adagio."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Schumann & Brahms: Piano Quintets

BEETHOVEN: String Quartets Op. 18, Nos. 1 and 2

As the Naxos Beethoven Quartet cycle heads toward completion, the Kodály Quartet turns in some of its finest playing to date. Particularly impressive in the E-flat Op. 127 quartet, the four players spin out the second movement variations with pliant lyricism, effecting gorgeously shaded dynamic contrasts in the Scherzando Vivace. The Kodálys may not plunge into the Op. 59's opening Allegro with the virtuosic confidence marking the Alban Berg Quartett's EMI studio version, or the better-recorded Alexander Quartet (Arte Nova); on the other hand, I like the dark charm they bring to the Minuet movement. The fugal finale is taken slightly under Beethoven's all-but-impossible metronome indication. While the music's dangerous edge is compromised, the results gain in linear clarity and uplifting momentum. An attractive coupling, all told, and worth much more than its bargain price. --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18, Nos. 5 and 6