Very beautifully, very powerfully, very affectionately played, the Leipziger Streichquartett's 2005 recording of Bruckner's String Quintet and String Quartet just misses being a great recording. While the Leipzig quartet has made tremendous recordings in the past -- Beethoven and especially Schubert recordings are as fine and as deep and as true as the best in the postwar period -- its Bruckner has everything going for it except profundity. In the quintet, its structure in the opening Gemässig, while wonderfully controlled, misses the sense of expansive inclusiveness it needs to convince. The tempo in the Adagio, while appropriately broad, misses the sense of imminent epiphany it needs to compel. The rhythm in its closing Lehaft bewegt, while robustly vigorous, misses the sense of elemental ecstasy it needs to persuade. In the early quartet, the Leipzig, while earnest and honest, lacks the assurance and authority to make its performance more than lightly diverting. Of course, the work is not much more than diverting, but still, the quartet is by Bruckner and surely more depth and weight would not have been amiss. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm's sound is clear, rich, and pure.
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