The sheer technical finish of the Alban Berg's playing can be taken for granted. But, unlike in their recording of Op 76 Nos 2-4 (EMI, 3/97), polish and precision here at times seem ends in themselves. The sublime slow movements of Nos 5 and 6 are both cases in point - clear-eyed, even austere readings, with the briskish tempos determinedly maintained and little apparent feeling for Haydn's strange, visionary modulations. The opening movements of these quartets, quintessentially late Haydn in their blend of lyricism, spareness and immense formal sophistication, also go for too little, with the Berg skating through the siciliano Allegretto of No 5 (the rapid figuration in the reprise sounds merely slick at this tempo) and passing up opportunities for witty or whimsical timing in No 6.
There are, though, compensations elsewhere: the hushed, rapt Adagio sostenuto of No 1, for instance, where the violin-cello dialogues are eloquently shaped and timed; or all three Scherzos, dispatched with uncompromising brusqueness and astringency - the repeated cadential figures in the Trio of No 5 here attain a disturbed, obsessive force. The finales of Nos 1 and 5 are also compelling, the former broad enough for its tough, troubled arguments and breathtaking harmonic excursions to register to the full, the latter fierce and laconic, a world away from the cliched notion of Haydn the genial funster.
Despite many good things, this new disc can only be recommended unreservedly to paid-up fans of the ABQ and those who prefer their Haydn cool and a touch abrasive. Desirable alternatives of Op 76 are, though, surprisingly thin on the ground. With the penetrating readings by the Takacs Quartet (Decca, 9/88 and 1/90) no longer available, my vote would go to the humane, unaffected performances by the Aeolian Quartet, though these can only be bought as part of their complete Decca cycle. The Amadeus (to my mind, rarely at their best in Haydn) and the ultra-refined Tokyo also have their takers, though if you want just Op 76 in honest, 'central' performances, you could do far worse than the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos.'