The so-called ''Sun'' quartets of Joseph Haydn's Op. 20 are often said to represent an unprecedented flowering of his string quartet writing, establishing a high...

The so-called ''Sun'' quartets of Joseph Haydn's Op. 20 are often said to represent an unprecedented flowering of his string quartet writing, establishing a high watermark to which every other subsequent composer of quartets has paid homage. The six quartets are not a monument of compositional rectitude or propriety, however - it is rather their flexibility, variety and unpredictability that make them so compelling. Every bar is full o f a sense of musical adventure, a palpable feeling that Haydn is creating bridges between styles and ideas and forging a composite vision of four-part string writing that draws on every historical source that he knew as well as the furthest reaches of his musical imagination. On this second installment, the last three quartets of the set are performed by the Chiaroscuro Quartet, a highly international ensemble formed in 2005 by the violinists Alina Ibragimova and Pablo Hernan Benedi, the Swedish violist Emilie Hornlund and cellist Claire Thirion from France. Dubbed ''a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music'' in Gramophone.