Includes work(s) by Anton von Webern. Ensemble: Leipzig String Quartet.

REVIEWS:
International Record Review (3/00, p.80) - "...The Leipzig Quartet handle the work with an obvious awareness of its inherent clarity....The blink-and-you'll-miss-it punctuation which anounces the entrance of [Oelze's] full-throated voice is superb in its...elegeant simplicity..."

"•Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), one of the most important Czech artists in the first half of the 20th century, came into contact with the Dadaists in Dresden after WWI. • For artists scarred by war, Dadaism reflected their attitude towards life which found expression in word and image as glaring derision, scorn and shameless provocation. In this climate, Schulhoff discovered American jazz. • The Piano Concerto, WV 66 is a wild blend of Impressionist, late-Romantic and jazz-inspired sounds and rhythms."

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Ninety-one years and a turn of century later, Alban Berg's String Quartet Op. 3 no longer shocks as it once did, but rather sounds more and more like an accessible piece of finely wrought chamber music. That's not to say it contains stretches of "Hum-um-umable melody" (to quote Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along), but with careful and repeated listening the ear discerns motifs and harmonic patterns where formerly there seemed naught but noise. Such revelations are greatly aided by the Leipzig String Quartet's generously romantic approach both to this and to the Lyric Suite. Its warm legato and passionate phrasing humanize and romanticize Berg's highly personal masterpieces, both created in connection with love affairs. This is in marked contrast to the Galimir Quartet's strident and angular performances on Vanguard, which place Berg more firmly in the epoch of the Second Viennese School. But the Leipzigers are capable of much fierce energy too, especially in the more explosive moments of the Lyric Suite, which they play with fearless alacrity.


The disc also includes Webern's brief (even for him) Three Pieces for String Quartet, featuring the ethereal singing of Christiane Oelze in the second piece, a setting of one of the composer's poems. At two minutes and ten seconds, it's over before you realize it, but even the much longer Berg works have this effect, thanks to the stunning Leipzig Quartet performances, recorded in top-drawer sound by MDG.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

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WIDMANN String Quartets: No. 1; No. 2, “Choral Quartet”; No. 3, “Hunting Quartet”; No. 4; No. 5, “Attempt at the Fugue” 1 • Leipzig Str Qrt; Juliane Banse (sop) 1 • MDG 307 1531 (76:44)


Born in 1973, Jörg Widmann has two careers: as a clarinetist, he teaches at the Freiburg College of Music, performs regularly, and has recorded music by Beethoven, Brahms, Harald Genzmer, and Wolfgang Rihm; as a composer who studied under Rihm, Wilfried Hiller, and Hans Werner Henze, his works are piling up European prizes with remarkable frequency. In the latter role, Widmann exhibits an interesting postmodern (if that word still has any relevance) conceptualism. These five compact, one-movement string quartets, for example, though composed over a period of years (1997–2005), when combined suggest the macro-structure of a single quartet—that is, the individual quartets serve the function of an “introduction,” “largo,” “scherzo,” “andante/passacaglia,” and “finale: quasi-fugue,” respectively. Whether or not Widmann had this scheme in mind from the very beginning is hard to say, but there is internal evidence that unifies and enhances their relationship, thematically and dramatically.


One of the conceptual features of Widmann’s music is a fluid blending of historical sounds and styles. The Quartet No. 3, for instance, takes its nickname from the familiar “hunting” rhythm adapted, in this case, from one of Robert Schumann’s Papillons , which gradually unravels into a more contemporary fabric of melodic fragments and disrupted rhythms (Widmann calls it “splinterizing” and “skeletalizing” the form). Quartet No. 2 is a reflection on death influenced by Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ ; some of the sparse music is recognizable (mournful chords that could be direct quotes) and some indistinct (non-pitched timbral effects), but the effect, while engaging, is more scene painting than movement towards a musical or emotional resolution. The Quartet No. 4 offers a walking bass line and ascending and descending patterns along with chiaroscuro textures; the sounds grow more mysterious as they drift away from the passacaglia’s theme, being somewhat reminiscent of George Rochberg’s interplay of harmonic references in his string quartets. The Quartet No. 5, longest of the sequence and the only one with a vocal component à la Schoenberg’s Second Quartet, deconstructs fugal strategies into episodes of contrasting shapes and tempos, offering close echoes of (if not actual quotes from) the Grosse Fugue and Art of Fugue . As for No. 1, it rises from silence with small Webernesque gestures, turns vigorous and frisky, is interrupted by silences, but builds to a convincing conclusion.


Widmann’s quartets are attractive, thought provoking, and well conceived, and I believe they actually work better when heard together as a connected entity than standing alone, where the occasional missteps, such as the clichéd shouts in No. 3 and the familiarity of material in No. 5, would be isolated and magnified. The benefit of having them on a single disc is the ability to choose which way you’d like to experience them.


FANFARE: Art Lange

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Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op. 106, the “Hammerklavier Sonata,” is regarded as the most complex and demanding piece among the complex and demanding works from his late period. It was not until Franz Liszt, decades after Beethoven’s death, that a pianist was able to master this sonata’s madcap technical challenges. The version for string quartet prepared by David Plylar, a curator at the Library of Congress, was initially intended as a guide through the structural thicket of this gigantic opus. In this rendering by the Leipzig String Quartet, however, it also turns out to be an extremely revealing expansion of our musical horizons. The extended polyphonic passages quite naturally profit from the new opportunities offered by ensemble playing: the canon at the beginning of the development section in the first movement or the mighty fugue in the finale. Beethoven calls for the use of all eighty-eight piano keys, which at the time was a sensational demand. The extreme registers are also represented in the quartet version. Only a top ensemble like the Leipzig String Quartet has the magic and mastery it takes to bring its gigantic leaps, flageolet chords, and intricate harmonic relations to the concert stage. Two transcriptions by Beethoven’s contemporary enrich the program. Along with the Gewandhaus violist Peter Michael Borck, the quartet members present Beethoven’s third attempt to write an overture for his opera Leonore. At the very latest when Borck reaches for the famous offstage trumpet, the last skeptic will become a firm believer in the quintet’s symphonic qualities. The considerably trimmer final version of the Fidelio overture impressively rounds off this extraordinary project.

HAYDN String Quartets, op. 33/1, 3, 5 • Leipzig Str Qrt • MDG 3071812 (64:55)


The Leipzig Quartet is a group that subscribes to the historically-informed religion of straight tone; thus when this disc begins one hears the group playing a held chord that sounds a bit like cats whining. This impression never quite leaves one, but it does dissipate; as soon as the music changes you become aware that this group is really stylish. They understand phrasing and dynamics; nothing in these performances smacks of streamlining, of just rattling out the notes as quickly as possible to achieve maximum excitement. The modern proclivity towards “fast and furious” is not in their musical lexicon. As a result, these performances really speak to you. They have something interesting to say. Despite the persistent straight tone, they are truly lovely, suggesting at different times humor, elegance, melancholy or joy in turn. In short, I really liked these recordings. This is how I want my Haydn to sound (the straight tone excepted).


This set is marked as Vol. 6 in an apparently ongoing series of Haydn quartets. I’d certainly be interested in hearing the other discs, particularly of the early quartets which are so often played in a flippant and uninteresting manner. I will refrain from saying, as the liner notes do, that they are “one of the most exciting string quartets” (thank goodness they didn’t add the tag line “of their generation”), because I do not equate outstanding artistic interpretive qualities with “excitement.” That belongs to those Italian HIP orchestras that play everything in a rattletrap, full-speed-ahead zip-a-de-doo-dah manner. The Leipzig Quartet is made up of musicians, and that is more than enough for me. Highly recommended.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

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This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players. Antonín Dvorák’s American String Quartet is a prime contender for a top slot on the all-time hit list of classical masterpieces – and rightly so, as this new recording by the Leipzig String Quartet demonstrates. Here it is heard along with the same composer’s magnificent String Quintet, and the outstanding bassist Alois Posch joins forces with the Leipzig musicians on what promises to be a favorite album for all chamber music fans. And such a program calls for the finest SACD sound.

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HAYDN String Quartets: op. 50/1, 4, 5 • Leipzig String Quartet • MDG 307 1585-2 (67:48)


From the six string quartets of op. 20 (preceded by 31 string quartets) to the two of op. 77, there are 45 remarkable works (excluding the Seven Last Words, which itself is also remarkable) in this form from Haydn’s pen. My familiarity with these quartets began relatively late in life, leaving me with the ambivalence of regret for being so tardy and of thankfulness for not being too late. The six op. 50 quartets lie at about the 40-percent mark of the total 45, and the three offered here are in my view the most attractive of this group of six. All six, however (all 45, for that matter), are strongly attractive pieces—remarkable in invention, distinctiveness, and musicality.


In these performances, the Leipzig String Quartet uses moderately restrained vibrato and observes all repeats (except those in the da capos ). Both of these practices are important contributors to the success of these performances. The Leipzigs approach the music cautiously, sometimes soulfully, yet know to let loose when appropriate, for example, in the memorable Vivace final movements of No. 1 and No. 5. At all times, each of the four voices is discernable. While Haydn’s string quartet part-writing was not as consistently developed as Mozart’s, its importance remains. Haydn was more open than Mozart in his use of humor, and he was more daring than Mozart in resorting to unconventional keys; e.g., E? Minor in the second variation of the op. 50/1 Adagio and F? Major to conclude the first movement and to begin the Menuetto of op. 50/4 (which is in the un-Mozartean key of F? Minor, the slow movement of Mozart’s K 488 piano concerto notwithstanding).


In competition, the Lindsays have recorded all 45 quartets in performances that excel in their verve and in the success of that group’s willingness to take chances in its interpretive approach, but intonation weakness is too often its principal failure. In its op. 50/4, there is too much out-of-tune playing by the first violin to make it a competitor to the Leipzig performance of that quartet.


The members of the 21-year-old Leipzig String Quartet on this disc are Stefan Arzberger and Tilman Büning (violins), Ivo Bauer (viola), and Matthias Moosdorf (cello). Three of its members were first chairs of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The quartet has concertized throughout the U.S. as well as throughout the world. It has recorded the complete string quartets of Schubert and of other composers. I can only hope that a “complete” (op. 20 and above) Haydn would be one of its eventual goals.


This is a Haydn quartet disc that I highly recommend.


FANFARE: Burton Rothleder

"Schumann [in the Piano Quintet] knew what he was writing for, and the balance among the strings with the piano is well-nigh perfect. The dark and burnished tone of the Leipzigers is perfectly suited to this piece, and their practiced and well-judged tempos only add to the desirability of this release. I have been recommending the Bernstein/Juilliard as my benchmark, and I suppose that still stands, along with Argerich and the Takács/Marc-André Hamelin on Hyperion. This release joins those distinguished efforts.

And the good news continues. MDG advertises this as the first recording of the first two of the string quartets in the original version. Schumann made a lot of changes regarding dynamics, tempo, and even a number of excised passages after the first performances. But as the notes admit, the only authorized versions are the ones that included these changes, the composer again knowing exactly what he wanted when he embarked on the changes, tightening up the work and making it more cohesive. But the Leipzig Quartet decided that it would be worthwhile to record the first thoughts of the composer, and I think the decision is correct, even though hearing them in this form will not change any minds about the commonly accepted text. But what excites me is that I may have just found a modern-day equal to the Juilliard Quartet’s trend-setting version from the 1960s. The Leipzig is expressively superior and technically on par, while MDG’s recording greatly advances the depth and width of the soundstage. Well, let me calm down a moment—the Juilliard still plays the authorized version, and as such remains in top place. But these discs are just too good to pass, as playing like this demands an audience, and a frequently attending one at that. Want List qualifications definitely met."

FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter

With the three quartets of Op. 55, the Leipzig String Quartet brings Haydn's mature genius vividly to life. These works capture the composer at the peak of the Classical era, blending elegance, wit, and profound musical insight. In the Quartet's hands, every nuance and flourish shines, offering listeners an unforgettable journey through Haydn's timeless artistry.

RUSSIAN STRING QUARTETS • Leipzig Str Qrt • MDG 307 1758-2 (76:56)


AFANASIEV String Quartet, “Volga.” RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Chorale and Variations. Fugue, “In the Monastery.” RACHMANINOFF Romanze and Scherzo. BORODIN String Quartet No. 2


This release couples three little-known works with one of the most familiar (and best) chamber works to emerge from 19th century Russia. In one case, the composer also is very obscure, although he enjoyed a long career and had some success during his lifetime. Nikolai Iakovlevich Afanasiev (1821-1898) received musical training from his violinist father but had no formal training in composition, none being available in Russia at the time. He performed as a violinist and conductor, including a stint as concert master of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. He is said to have written 12 string quartets, as well as symphonies, concertos, and several operas, including one based on the same Gogol story set by Tchaikovsky in Cherevichki and Rimsky-Korsakov in Christmas Eve , but much of his music remains unpublished. His “Volga” String Quartet was one of his most successful works, receiving a prize from the Russian Musical Society in 1860. Its use of Russian folk material guarantees a substantial level of melodic interest, but the attempts at thematic development seem tentative. The most pleasing of its four movements is unfortunately the shortest, the Allegretto second movement, where engaging melody combines with lively, dance-like rhythm and the simple tripartite form doesn’t tax the composer’s technical abilities. In that movement there is a motif that is curiously similar to the one associated with the witch Ježibaba in Dvo?ák’s Rusalka , written 40 years later. Another melody strongly suggestive of Dvo?ák occurs in the final movement.


As I noted in my review of his 1897 Piano Trio (35:6), Rimsky-Korsakov didn’t think much of himself as a composer of chamber music, having concluded, after leaving that work unfinished, that “chamber music is not my area.” The two pieces on this disc date from an earlier period but suggest a similar discomfort with the chamber-music medium. Rimsky composed his String Quartet, No. 2, “On Russian Themes,” in 1878-79 but was dissatisfied with it and withheld it from publication. He subsequently reworked the first three movements into his Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, op. 31, leaving the fugal final movement, In the Monastery , as a stand-alone piece in its original form. The notes for this recording claim that he also reused the material from this movement in Sadko , but I don’t hear anything that I recognize as being in that opera. I don’t know what the tempo marking is for this piece, but it sounds to me like it would benefit from a quicker pace than that employed by the Leipzig players. The other Rimsky piece, Chorale and Variations, dates from 1885 and lasts less than five minutes. It is another neobaroque exercise that may have been part of Rimsky’s self-instruction in compositional technique.


Unlike Rimsky, Borodin and Rachmaninoff had a genuine affinity for chamber music, as is evidenced in Rachmaninoff’s case especially by his ravishing Cello Sonata. The two quartet movements offered here date from 1889, during the composer’s student years at the Moscow Conservatory. Even as a student, Rachmaninoff was capable of writing music of lasting value, for instance, his one-act opera Aleko . The quartet movements, however, strike me as being more at the apprentice level. The sweetly lyrical, rather Tchaikovskian Romanze is pleasing if a bit repetitious. The Scherzo seems somewhat thin in terms of invention and development. The Leipzig performances are straightforward and matter-of-fact, perhaps too much so. More expressivity and shaping might make a better case for these pieces.


I am quite taken, however, with the Leipzig players’ reading of Borodin’s familiar quartet, the one truly accomplished work on the disc. Here the balance among the instruments is finely judged, textures are clear, detail is firmly etched, and continuity of line is consistently maintained. Tempos are well integrated and for the most part firmly sustained, but with subtle application of rubato. The Leipzig players take a broader approach in the outer movements than the Borodin or Pražák Quartets (Chandos and Praga, respectively). After an unusually pensive, lyrical, and serene first movement, the Scherzo is quick but graceful. The famous Notturno flows appealingly at a tempo that seems ideal, and an expansive finale concludes the work in a manner consistent with the overall conception.


This recording benefits from open and detailed sound, a realistic image, and an extended frequency range. The cello’s contributions register with gratifying solidity and impact. On my system at least, the sound can also be a touch abrasive at higher dynamic levels.


I can recommend this release for its fine and distinctive performance of the Borodin work. In addition, it will be of interest to those wishing to explore the byways of Russian chamber music, although the other works are not of great significance. Other recordings exist of the Rimsky and Rachmaninoff pieces, but I haven’t heard them. Afanasiev is otherwise unrepresented in the catalog, and from a historical standpoint it is valuable to have him added to it.


FANFARE: Daniel Morrison

The prolific Leipzig String Quartet completes Joseph Haydn's Opus 17 with the Quartets Nos. 2, 4, and 6 on what is now the twelfth volume of an extraordinary quartet cycle. Once again historically informed playing meets world-class quartet culture, and once again the Leipzig four demonstrate that Haydn's quartets were masterfully conceived from the very beginning and continue to deserve only the very best treatment. "Reduction as a Principle" would be a good title for Opus 17. But what richness! Haydn concentrates on only a very few themes and motifs; even in the first movements there is only one of them. How this then is elaborated is proof of the finest geniality. Here we find fragmentations, variations, omissions, and ramifications, and when Haydn develops the theme polyphonically and contrapuntally with itself in the first movement of No. 2, the composer almost grinningly presents his credentials as a genuine master in his field. This does not keep him from doing plenty of playing with the expectations of his listeners - for example, with the insertion of an uneven number of measures in an otherwise traditional minuet. The fact that the usual period of dance steps is brought to stumbling by the witty composer may startled listeners of his times out of their comfortability, but today not only experts delight in the Esterh�zy court composer's original ideas. For their Haydn edition the members of the Leipzig String Quartet use bows from the period during which the works were composed. This is noticeable in the smooth tonal delineation and supple articulation that may be said to make these fine works speak and shine. Once again a new chance for us to escape from modern restlessness for a few choice moments!

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The Leipzig String Quartet sets out on yet another musical journey, and a genuine discovery is in store inasmuch as Niel Wilhelm Gade’s Quartet “Willkommen und Abschied” is being heard here for the first time in complete form. Since the Dane Gade, like Edvard Grieg, whose Quartet op. 27 is also part of this tour, had important musical roots in Leipzig, the journey also covers home turf.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the string quartet was regarded as the embodiment of absolute music. It may seem to have been a rather bold move for a young composer for Gade to have used the literary source, Goethe’s poem “Willkommen und Abschied,” for his first string quartet.

Edvard Grieg studied under Gade in Copenhagen, where he developed ideas for his Nordic music like in his Quartet op. 27. The powerful introduction of the first movement already contains the famous “Grieg motif,” from which many themes derive. Grieg himself fueled speculations about its autobiographical connections by working with his “Spielmannslied”; his quartet is a top-class chamber event in this gripping interpretation by the members of the Leipzig String Quartet.

Clean, thoughtful, satisfyingly classical accounts.

The Sunrise makes for a quiet, inward-looking and studious start to this CD. And you really appreciate the exposition repeat which allows you to get to grips with what it’s about. The first violin’s curvaceous ascent represents the sunrise. The first theme’s mellow consideration soon gives way to earnest activity, then back to the opening mood. The second theme mirrors the first but with the melody this time in the cello. In the development (tr. 1 4:19) the vigorous material becomes more spiky but what’s more attractive, and very well accomplished here by the Leipzig String Quartet, is the release of tension as the texture thins and the music eases into the recapitulation. I compared The Lindsays recorded in 1999 (ASV CDDCA 1077). Their opening is more affectionately inflected, their activity more animated, but the movement’s progression isn’t revealed with the sheer refinement shown by the Leipzigers.

The slow movement is a deep contemplation around a five note motif of which you are made clearly aware in the Leipzigers’ performance. Their presentation is plain but intent. The more searching, even rapt character of the second phase of the movement is satisfyingly revealed by the whole ensemble. Their understatement shows more warmth and inwardness than the more moulded but also self-conscious Lindsays.

After this the Minuet is rather disarmingly jocular. The Leipzigers get across well the teasing quality of its tempo fluctuations though to a degree which makes the disruptions unduly gawky. The Trio has a rustic flavour to maintain such a mood, with its viola and cello drone over which the violins’ melody slides. But in its second section the viola is released to join the violins and your focus is switched to the sweetness and light of the first violin in upper register. The Lindsays’ more blatantly comic bounce in the Minuet blends better with a Trio that is at first still more feisty and assertive.

The finale, attractively presented by the Leipzigers with an easygoing blitheness, continues the later, sweeter mood of the Trio. Its increasingly faster, at first more feathery, closing section is trimly accomplished by the Leipzigers but you’re very much aware of it as a virtuoso technical display. The Lindsays are more provocative: they send up the first violin’s grace notes from the finale’s opening phrase and then float on the sustained notes. Their closing section begins nonchalantly and continues precisely etched.

The second quartet on this Leipzigers’ CD, the Emperor, is altogether different in manner. It’s direct, exuberantly forthright and uncomplicated. The Leipzigers begin it in chipper fashion. The sforzandos and lower parts are firmly projected and there’s more emphasis on ensemble than first violin dominance, its passages of semiquaver and demisemiquaver elaboration allowed just to wheel neatly above the rest. In the development (tr. 5 3:37) the sequences are presented with silvery tone before the theme is displayed in much more rugged manner as appropriate to the drone in viola and cello. The recapitulation is then an appreciated return to civil normality. It’s a pity the second half of the movement, unlike the first, isn’t repeated, especially because Haydn asks for the close, from 6:05 here, to be faster the second time, so you lose that adrenalin effect. The Lindsays (from 1998, ASV CDDCA 1076) do make the repeat and approach everything with more rigour and swagger.

The ‘Emperor’ (Austrian national anthem) theme of the slow movement (tr. 6) is stated calmly by the Leipzigers and gradually takes on more of the character of a formal dance. Variation 1 (1:04) offers a nicely rounded statement by the second violin and neat first violin filigree work above. Variation 2 (2:03) is treated as a lullaby, with the theme now in the cello and the first violin’s counter-play tender and sympathetic. In Variation 3 (3:00) the tune comes in the viola with denser involvement of the other parts but is still flexibly and companionably presented here. In Variation 4 (4:14) the tune is back in the first violin and more reflective in silky high register, sealing the whole presentation as a grateful homage. I prefer this to the more emotive Lindsays who for me become rather unctuous.

The Leipzigers’ Minuet is courtly, relaxed and attractive, but I feel the more rhythmic second part of both sections could skip more, as the Lindsays show. However, the Trio responds better to the Leipzigers’ understatement. It’s grave until transformed, even if only for a spell, from A minor to A major, like seeing the same person in different circumstances. In the Leipzigers’ finale you feel the rhetoric of the crotchet chords more than the shimmer of the quaver triplets, but these do later become more prominent. In the development (tr. 8 2:46) they cut across the melodic progress with more effect and things become more impetuous. The Leipzigers’ performance is finely proportioned but the Lindsays are more exciting.

The Fifths is a great study in subversion. Its first movement begins rigorously enough but the consolatory brightness of its second theme (tr. 9 0:23) is what you prefer to remember. The development (3:24) sees a transformation and mellowing of the initial material at the same time as its opening four-note motif (the falling fifths in the first violin) becomes more significant as a unifying and steadying force. The Leipzigers are more refined and intellectual than the Lindsays’ more personal and passionate approach (ASV CDDCA 1076 recorded in 1999) which offers a sweeter yet somewhat less substantial second theme. The winsome slow movement spotlights a first violin melody and here the Leipzigers’ Stefan Arzberger manages to be both folksy and gracefully sophisticated where Peter Cropper for the Lindsays is more modest and unassuming. Arzberger is the more classical. The Minuet returns to D minor rigour but of a very odd kind as the first and second violins are stalked by the viola and cello three beats behind. As both are in their lower register the effect is rather that of a trailing double-bass. This is clearer and more disturbing in the Leipzigers’ account though it has less gusto than the Lindsays. The D major Trio places a Vivaldian succession of crotchet chords as a backcloth for a sweet and toying first violin solo. The Leipzigers bring out the toying aspect more whereas the Lindsays are more exciting in dynamic shading. In the D minor finale the subversive brightness is confined at first to the first violin’s leap of a fifth at the end of the first phrase but you know the theme is going to end up, satisfyingly and after a little sleight of hand in the development, in the major. All this is stylishly effected by the Leipzigers, again more classically than the Lindsays’ more cheeky first violin leap. They also sport a feistier development and more delicate and sweet major version of the theme. A good way to end a CD of clean, thoughtful, satisfyingly classical accounts. The playing is refined and precise; the recording has fine immediacy and presence.

-- Michael Greenhalgh, MusicWeb International

The Leipzig String Quartet continues its Haydn edition with three more works from his op. 50, and once again the members magnificently succeed in combining classical perfection with surprisingly fresh esprit.

For more than twenty years the Leipzig String Quartet has been playing in the Champions League of chamber music. Showered with prizes and awards, this world-class ensemble again and again has azzled listening audiences with their sensational recordings and concerts.

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