It is good to have these two quartets back in the catalogue. They are not among Dvorak's most popular, but they are fine works and deserve the care lavished on them here. Only in one respect does this fail, and that is especially in the opening movement of the E major Quartet. The textures and figuration are very complex, a characteristic of the music being the number of small rhythmic figures (a dotted octave leap in particular, to a lesser extent a nervous little semiquaver run) which charge the music and give it tension and impetus. There are too many places where these are simply inaudible, and where only the score-reader can be aware of them.
To a lesser extent, this characteristic is also true of the D minor Quartet, where in the first movement the equivalent is a triplet figure with an octave drop. The lack of clarity in this near the end of the movement robs the final page, and especially the final bars, of their musical point. This is all the more surprising as both players and recording engineers can respond exquisitely to the problems of the Adagio of the D minor Quartet. The rich double stoppings at the opening sound wonderful, and there is sensitive balance from both players and engineers in the extraordinary passage between letters E and G in the score (on CD, band 7, 4'01''–5'15'') when the first violin has a soaring melody at the top of the register, the second violin has a pizzicato accompaniment, the viola has a middle register counter-melody to the first violin, while the cello is churning away in demisemiquavers that must also have a melodic outline. Not an easy one: the effect here is splendidly caught.
The D minor Quartet in general comes off better than its rather dark and enigmatic E major companion. The Alla Polka has a nice spring and rubato, and the finale goes at a good Schubertian gallop. In the E major Quartet, the players seem happier once they have got the difficult first movement over, and they play the Andante beautifully (here, too, the textural problems are tricky). The Allegro scherzando goes well, with a nice sense of its amiability being suddenly contradicted by the severity of the C sharp minor trio. Reservations notwithstanding, this is a record which Dvorak's admirers should take note of.'