Early Music Review

Although nearly ten years old, these memorable live performances are eminently worthy of issue. They certainly give no impression that the Fitzwilliam Quartet was at the time in a state of transition – the brief period when Jonathan Cohen was cellist – since they are above all marked by a balance and maturity of conception that speaks of long partnership.

The choice of programme is interesting: a quartet from Haydn’s first set (more accurately divertimentos), one of the quartets composed in 1793 with public performance in London in mind, and the last work for the medium completed by the composer. The early quartet is thrown off in thoroughly winning fashion, with a deliciously light touch, sense of fun and, in the Adagio, the cantilena beguilingly spun by Lucy Russell.

In the opus 71 work, the Fitzwilliam are less concerned with the big rhetorical gestures associated with these pieces designed (at least in part) for the concert platform, more with the subtlety of the composer’s rich textures and the beautiful peace of the Adagio. In op. 77/2, one of the masterpieces of the genre, Haydn’s sublime, hard-won mastery is complemented by playing of rare insight, the Andante’s wonderful nocturnal march carried far into the realms of ineffable fantasy.

—Brian Robins