This 18-year-old recording has come up remarkably well on CD. The original release of the Dvorak was criticized on account of the sound-quality, but now digitally remastered it is superb. The Faure was recorded on the same day, and yet is not so good: the piano has a slightly 'misty' role in the ensemble, and in the Scherzo the strings are too close for my taste. The Domus / Hyperion and Nash / CRD performances are rather better in this respect and as far as I am concerned it is the Domus version, which won the chamber section of the 1986 Gramophone Awards, that still emerges as the front runner, both in terms of sound and sensitively integrated balance.
The players of the Guarneri Quartet have authority and temperament, but on occasions in the Dvorak they seem intimidated by Rubinstein's presence: for instance, once the cellist David Soyer's solo is out of the way at the beginning of the slow movement, the music becomes rather directionless. The individuality of the music is suppressed and the Allegro moderato third movement does not have that idiomatically Czech rhythmic lilt that is so much a component of Dvorak's music.
In the Faure, Rubinstein and his partners are more expansive than the other two groups. They do not keep a particularly tight rein in the structure of the first movement and it was only as the music progressed that I really appreciated their security and tonal warmth. Rubinstein's Puckish phrasing in the Scherzo has the most marvellous economy of expression and the way in which he leads the unfolding of the finale is superb. All the changes of pace are judged with acute artistry. Here the individual contributions from the string players are highly elegant. Surprisingly, there is a bad slip in intonation towards the end.
By comparison Domus are rather faster in the first movement of the Faure and with them the piano part is better fitted into the ensemble. The pianist Susan Tomes cares for each detail, modulates dynamics carefully and colours her tone with wonderful musicality. The level of understanding between the players is high and this is nowhere more evident than in the rapt timelessness of the Adagio. The Nash Ensemble are more classically orientated, but they are slightly less imaginative—the string players do not have as much to say about the music. So the Domus version is my preference for the Faure, and I would be inclined to wait for a more satisfactory performance of the Dvorak.'