Classical Companion

Gringolts Quartet, Malin Hartelius
Bis Bis2267

Febrile and fiercely detailed in playing and engineering, coupled with an outstandingly lucid version of the Fourth Quartet.

Emerson Quartet, Barbara Hannigan
Alpha Alpha1000

Chausson's sensuous Chanson perpetuelle makes a left-field coupling for this fitting envoi to the Emersons' distinguished career.

Heath Quartet, Carolyn Sampson
Signum Sigcd712

Core Second Viennese Classics from Berg and Webern complement the ardour of the Heaths' reading and Sampson's warm soprano.

Quatuor Diotima, Sandrine Piau
Naïve V5380 (4Cds), V5240 (1Cd)

French restraint pays off in the heated counterpoint and underscores Piau's confiding tone. More Berg and Webern for couplings.

Swr So/Michael Gielen, Slavka Taskova
Swr-Music Swr19063Cd (12Cds)

A master Schoenbergian moulds the string-orchestra version in good modern sound: the entire set is a Second-Viennese education.

Nbc So/Dmitri Mitropoulos, Astrid Varnay
Urania Urn22110

An unmissable one-off, and not just for Mitropoulos's surging intensity but for the Isolde-like feeling Varnay brings to the poetry.