“I was delighted to hear the Keller Quartet’s recordings... and discover the extent to which [the musicians] have entered into the very soul of these works and, by living every moment of them, conveyed that soul to their listeners.” So writes Sandor Vegh in Erato’s well-prepared booklet-note. Andras Keller (the Quartet’s leader) is in fact a Vegh pupil and it is indeed fitting that these 1993-4 sessions should have been recorded at the Salle de musique de la Chaux-de-Fonds – the very location where the Vegh Quartet recorded their second (stereo) cycle listed above. Both sets parade a lifelike body of tone, although digital technology assures the Kellers an extra degree of dynamism. As to the newer performances, what impresses me most is the Kellers’ naturalness, commitment and an apparent ability to survey even the most complex passages with absolute assurance. Take, for example, the Fifth Quartet’s opening Allegro, a veritable minefield of violent rhythmic contrasts and a high point of the Vegh’s Astree set; here too the attack is powerful without sounding in the least uptight while the Kellers’ intonation is truer than that of their distinguished forebears. Note, also, the subtlest hint of glissando at the pizzicato start of the “Alla bulgarese” Scherzo (and the subtlest hint of jazz, too). The opening bars of the Fourth Quartet’s Allegro are both pliable and properly belligerent, although even the Kellers’ steel-capped aggression doesn’t quite erase memories of the Juilliard Quartet’s stunning second recording (CBS, 4/70 – nla).
The Third Quartet starts very well, though some of the pizzicato writing later on is occasionally a little unfocused (i.e. in the “Seconda parte”) and the closing Allegro molto isn’t quite as cathartic as with the Veghs or, again, on that classic (and frighteningly incisive) Juilliard set. The first two quartets, however, are given excellent performances, the First especially, with its unmistakable premonitions of the Sixth (try 1'51'' into the Allegretto). The Second Quartet’s opening Moderato is sensitively shaped and displays a genuine sense of forward motion, while the Allegro molto capriccioso’s sudden (muted) prestissimo flies off at a terrific speed. In the Sixth Quartet, the Kellers balance pathos and humour with due respect for Bartok’s cyclic structure (each appearance of the salient ‘thematic cell’ seems more meaningful than the last).
Bartok’s prescribed dynamics are largely respected, although his suggested timings are more approximated than matched: the Kellers fall 56 seconds short in the Fifth Quartet, and are 2'19'' over the limit in the Sixth! Still, we know from Bartok’s own freedom in performance that these and related indications were in all probability intended more as a check on interpretative excess than a prompt for fanatical observance. What matters is that the spirit is right and that this most magnificent of post-Beethoven quartet cycles emerges for all its worth as the pre-eminent achievement of twentieth-century chamber music. I’d rate this new set alongside the Tokyo Quartet on DG (soon to be joined by a digital RCA remake), the Gramophone Award-winning Emerson Quartet and, of course, the aforementioned Vegh Quartet cycle on Astree. As to the Juilliards (thrice recorded – for Philips, 7/56 and CBS and then digitally for Sony, never reissued on CD in the UK), one continues to plead for a mid-price, two-disc reissue, while DG could usefully reissue their famous Hungarian Quartet cycle (11/56 – nla), Testament, the Vegh’s earlier cycle (Columbia, 9/56 – nla) and someone (Everest, perhaps?), the much-admired Fine Arts Quartet cycle, originally available on Saga (4/62 – nla). Music of this calibre deserves maximum catalogue representation.'