London audiences are lucky to have the Skampa Quartet as a more-or-less permanent fixture, primarily at the Wigmore Hall where it has given a number of memorable concerts. Now in its 11th year, it parades a clean, warm-centred tonal profile and retains an alert approach to musical phrasing. These particular performances are imaginative without being mannered, energetic without sounding hard-driven. Here, the quartet’s penchant for light, sparkling textures particularly suits the inner movements of Dvorak’s American and its sensitivity to musical transitions is apparent in numerous episodes, not least 8'08'' into Dvorak’s first movement, just before the sighing second set returns.
The Brahms First Quartet is lively, intelligent and, again, very well played. The first movement repeat is observed and the outer movements have plenty of inner vitality. Whether the Skampa has more to say about the music than its best rivals is perhaps open to question, but it remains a satisfying performance, cleanly recorded. The trouble here, as with the Skampa’s previous CDs for Supraphon, is in the couplings. Pairing Dvorak and Brahms in this way is all well and good for a live, one-off concert, or a souvenir CD, or a historical release where there is no alternative. But in these competitive days, where collectors are eager to build workable libraries of key repertory, surely it would be more sensible to concentrate on single-composer programmes? Or at least that is what the wider public seems to want. So why lose out?'