Technically speaking, Messiaen’s Quartet is not the most demanding composition in the twentieth-century chamber music repertory. But performers can find it difficult to get on the right expressive wavelength, especially if the unambiguously Catholic fervour inherent in the music doesn’t come naturally to them.
Such seems to be the case with this Kontrapunkt disc. It’s not that the Danish players can be accused of approaching the music in a spirit of Protestant stolidity: if anything they try too hard to enter into its mystical, ritualistic spirit, adopting tempos so slow that the music’s repetitive routines risk becoming tedious. This is a particular problem in the fifth movement, the great song of devotion for cello and piano which lasts well over ten minutes – two minutes longer than on the far more convincing version on Collins Classics. Most of the other movements are also on the slow side and fail to carry sufficient conviction, even if they are otherwise faithful to the composer’s markings. Monotony is never very far away.
The Collins recording also shows a greater relish for the music’s purely textural qualities. There’s an appropriately heady atmosphere, whereas on Kontrapunkt the more austere approach of the players is presented in a less subtly differentiated sound, tending at times to a generalized harshness. Either this composition creates a special sense of occasion, or it leaves you cold. Sadly, my response to this new recording is a chilly one.'