Search - Turner Quartet, Quatuor Turner, Alessandro Moccia :: Beethoven: String Quartets/Quatuors a Cordes, Op. 59 "Razoumovsky" & 74 "Les Harpes"

The Turner Quartet is a period-instrument group that equals more traditional quartets in personality, warmth, and innate feeling for Beethoven's peerless works. They zero in on the right tempo for any given passage, display a comparable sense of structure and rhythmic drive, as well as a masterful sense of dynamics. In the "Harp Quartet," they capture the ghostly opening beautifully, albeit with the clipped-phrase endings that tell you their Beethoven interpretations look forward from an earlier style. The slow movements of both works are done lovingly, although the plucked cello in the Andante of Op. 59 No. 3 is not nearly as prominent as in less understated performances. Throughout, the Turner's instrumental blend is impeccable, and they negotiate the faster movements with admirable swing and precise articulation. Harmonia Mundi's excellent sound is an added attraction to performances that, while they don't supplant the Italiano, Emerson, Talich, and Vegh Quartets, can be welcomed as viable alternative recordings of these inexhaustible pieces. --Dan Davis