Johann Georg Albrechtsberger is primarily remembered today as a friend of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and as Ludwig van Beethoven's teacher, as well as for composing a number of canons that periodically turn up as examples in theory classes. Beyond that, few know of Albrechtsberger's oeuvre, which includes over 600 works in most of the Classical forms, though precious few of these have ever been recorded. Fortunately, the
Authentic Quartet has released this extraordinary album of three of Albrechtsberger's String Quartets, Op. 7/4-6, and connoisseurs of the genre may note with pleasure that he was a fine composer in his own right and fully deserving of the respect accorded him by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The outer quartets, No. 4 in C major and No. 6 in E flat major, are quite vivacious and witty in their repartée, and the intervening No. 5 in G minor is only slightly less lively for its melancholy first movement. As its name suggests, the
Authentic Quartet plays period instruments, and it sounds marvelous with its bright, vibrato-less tone and deliciously resinous bowing, sonorities that are now expected in any historically informed Classical performance. Hungaroton's resonant reproduction also contributes to the luster of the album, and the music sounds as burnished as any string quartet could make it. If this disc signals a renascence of Albrechtsberger's music, then there's good reason to be excited, especially if this excellent ensemble leads the way with future recordings like this one.