The Gramophone Choice

Piano Quartets – No 1 in C minor, Op 15; No 2 in G minor, Op 45

Domus (Krysia Osostowicz vn Robin Ireland va Timothy Hugh vc Susan Tomes pf)

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The First Piano Quartet reveals Fauré’s debt to an earlier generation of composers, particularly Mendels­sohn. Yet already it has the refined sensuality, the elegance and the craftsmanship which were always to be hallmarks of his style and it’s a thoroughly assured, highly enjoyable work which could come from no other composer’s pen. 

The Second Quartet is a more complex, darker work, much less ready to yield its secrets. The comparatively agitated, quicksilver Scherzo impresses at once, however, and the complete work possesses considerable poetry and stature. Occasionally one might wish that Domus had a slightly more aristocratic, commanding ap­proach to these scores but the overall achieve­ment is impressive, for their playing is both idiomatic and technically impeccable. The recording is faithful and well balanced.

← Fauré