It isn't only individual works that can become monuments; a whole series can assume similar status—Bach's cantatas or Schubert Lieder for instance, or Haydn's string quartets—and as such they can be fairly intimidating for the uninitiated. Where does one begin? Where are the high points of the mountain-chain, and are they necessarily the best points of entry? Well, the newcomer could do a great deal worse than to buy this record: two superb works, each uniquely inventive, beautifully played. There's nothing quite like the opening of Op. 64 No. 5 in all music: a beguilingly simple eight-bar figure turns out to be the accompaniment to a rapt, high-soaring violin melody—the kind of thing that makes one want to lift the stylus and start all over again. Of Op. 54 No. 2 Hans Keller wrote that ''there is no more original Haydn quartet, nor any that contains more prophetic innovations''. Forward-looking elements abound: the heart-stopping harmonic dislocations, the dark folk-eloquence of the second movement, and most strikingly the presence of two Adagios, one of which closes the work—thereby anticipating the Pathetique Symphony by over a century.
The Gabrieli, as I said, play beautifully. Their performances are rhythmically both precise and vital, tonal shading is imaginative and sensitive to the character of the writing (how lovely to hear that hopelessly 'inauthentic' sweet vibrato in Op. 64 No. 4's opening first violin theme), articulation is admirably clear, and the expression carries plenty of conviction without, I feel, overstepping the bounds of appropriate style. Where I feel the Gabrieli suffer slightly in comparison with the excellent Lindsay Quartet (ASV) is in the way they interpret that extraordinary first slow movement in Op. 54 No. 2, where the Lindsay achieve just that bit more emotive astringency. I've another reservation too, this time about the recording, which for all its clarity and warmth of tone does tend to homogenize the quartet image—one really ought to be able to pick out the individual voices without effort in a classical quartet. Nevertheless, it's a real pleasure to hear such civilized and committed playing in what is still neglected repertoire—particularly neglected, it seems, by the record buyer. With discs like this around, ''I don't know where to start'' is no longer an acceptable excuse.'