The main interpretative problem in the first movement of the American Quartet seems to be, what did Dvorak mean when he wrote the words in tempo over the second subject? I've always presumed that he meant in tempo, but you won't find more than one performance in 20 that takes him at his word. Most drop the pace and indulge in big, expansive rubatos—excusable if they genuinely stem from overflowing affection, but when the results sound as studied as they do here, one inevitably wonders, why?
The Endellion Quartet don't take any other striking liberties, though they could be more attentive to Dvorak's interestingly varied accenting in the finale's first theme, or to the subtly graded dynamics in the Lento. In many places—as for instance in the long espressivo solos that open the Smetana—they seem keen to get to the heart of the composer's intentions, but again I'm too much aware of calculation. Smetana's slow movement theme is played very touchingly—it's one of the most memorable things on the disc—but the climax has an inappropriately measured quality, as do the fragmented ideas that follow the quartet's catastrophic final climax. Somehow I don't feel that this excellent ensemble has really got to grips with either work, for all their technical command and obvious good intentions. And given this, the quality of the recording, fine as it is, won't tip the balance. Quite simply, some passages impress, some don't; neither performance carries overall dramatic or poetic conviction. For the Dvorak, best to stay with the fine Quartetto Italiano reading on Philips.'