The string quartets recorded here are not startling new discoveries but incomplete works dating from the very beginning of Rachmaninov's career. Quartet No. 1 is a student attempt, written well under the shadow of Tchaikovsky but still plentifully inventive in its own right. The opening Romance has a lyricism and a feeling for the medium that promise much; the scherzo is deft and attractive. The Second Quartet also consists of a pair of movements which survive only in sketch: they have been composed out by two Russian musicologists. The first movement, on this evidence, is rather an awkward piece, Rachmaninov's sonata-form confrontation of themes of very differing natures and tempos not really working effectively. The second movement is an Andante lasting over 16 minutes. It is an ambitious idea, a substantial passacaglia based on a simple minor-scale fragment, and it works remarkably well in its own right. How on earth these two movements could have been effectively followed one cannot imagine; and presumably Rachmaninov could not either. The passacaglia is certainly worth salvaging; and all four quartet movements will repay the curiosity of the composer's admirers.
The songs are transcriptions made by the quartet's cellist, Nikita Shvetsov. He has naturally been obliged to avoid those which depend on Rachmaninov's pianistic virtuosity and turn to the more gently lyrical ones. The arrangements work well, and they are nicely sung by Svetlana Sumatchova, her fresh, clear, well-placed voice proving very suitable for these attractive pieces. Transliterated texts are included, with translations mostly taken from the Gutheil score and by Edward Agate and Rosa Newmarch; as effective singing translations, some of them very ingenious, they are not really as accurate as is wanted here.'