Lener Quartet

I reviewed this recording a decade ago ( Fanfare 26:1) when it was issued on Chandos 9980. As that album is still available, I’m left wondering why Melodiya, a label with only moderate distribution, would want to go up with a rerelease of something already in Chandos’s active catalog. Sonically, there’s next to nothing to choose between them. The Chandos is reproduced at a slightly higher volume in the Debussy, but otherwise there isn’t any significant difference. The Ravel still suffers from miking that’s a touch too distant, an issue corrected in the Debussy. Pricewise, they are competitive.

Andante's deluxe package of Schubert's chamber music masterpieces includes classic performances that retain their glories. The Cortot-Thibaud-Casals Trio in the Piano Trio No. 1 and the Busch Trio's Piano Trio No. 2, for example, still reign supreme for insightful, warm interpretations, here transferred with presence and color. Busch's violin Fantasy, too, has only been bettered by Szigeti's performance, and the Kreisler-Rachmaninoff recording of the Grand Duo Violin Sonata has always been–and always will be–in a class by itself.