Dvorak's G major Quartet is almost his last and certainly his most unusual work in the medium; and it sets plenty of problems for both players and recording engineers. The opening theme itself is extraordinary: a reiterated rising sixth, then a descending triplet arpeggio on first violin. It may be scarcely tuneful, but it is a most striking idea, and Dvorak handles it with amazing mastery. Extremely clear articulation is of the essence, above all in a work that deals so much in original string quartet textures; and in this performance there are too many places in the exposition, even as soon as the second page, where the cello's playing of the all-significant triplet figure is obscured. The recording, in fact, tends to favour the violins throughout, and there are too many places where viola and cello have insufficient prominence.
However, all is well in the strange Adagio, whose textures are as elaborate as anything in late Beethoven; and both players and engineers deal very scrupulously with the passage (at 2'36'') where the first violin is singing the melody over a pizzicato dotted-note pedal in the cello, reiterated viola thirds, and demi-semiquaver arpeggios on second violin. The effect of all this complexity is beautiful, not least since the players have clearly thought deeply about the very odd phrasing which Dvorak's unusual melodic material sets before them throughout the work. The only reservation concerns the dynamic markings: especially in the Scherzo; considerable dynamic variety and contrast are an essential part of the music, and sometimes an alternating p, pp and f can come out as a fairly level mf.
The playing is emphatic, and if sometimes over-emphatic, never unthinkingly so; that is to say, in the necessity of making clear the thematic material and the way it works, there are passages where a greater degree of calm might make the point better. One such place is the end of the slow movement, whose last page needs a real sense of peacefulness, especially since it is so strangely disturbed in the middle. The finale, no less odd than the rest of the work, is played with a good impulse and quick appreciation of the music's sudden contrasts.
There are some interesting fill-ups, in the discarded F major movement, a very agreeable piece, and two Waltzes, one wistful and charming, one lively, which Dvorak himself arranged from his Op. 54 piano pieces.'