Search - Dvorak, Voss, Buck :: American Quartet / String Quintet

The Melos Quartet has continued to make recordings--including many for Deutsche Grammophon--over a period of several decades, in the face of critical reactions ranging mostly from indifference to hostility. In these performances, the ensemble plays more in tune than it once did, and there are few moments of obvious difficulty. But the rhythms are inflexible, and in their hands Dvorák fails to emerge as the lovely, heart-gripping composer we know from so many other performances. Among superior versions of the popular American quartet are those of the Emerson Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon), Panocha Quartet (Supraphon), Smetana Quartet (Testament), and the gorgeous antique by the Bohemian Quartet (Biddulph) with Dvorák's son-in-law as second violinist. --Leslie Gerber