クロンマー: 弦楽四重奏曲集

古楽オケとして名高いコンチェルト・ケルンやフライブルク・バロック・オーケストラで活躍するメンバーによるピリオド楽器を使用したクァルテット、マルコリーニ四重奏団。
フランツ・クロンマーと言えばクラリネットの名曲で有名ですが、このアルバムに収録された弦楽四重奏曲のジャンルでは100曲以上の作品を残しています。
ウィーン古典派らしく耳なじみの良い作品が楽しませてくれます。
東京エムプラス

The chamber music of Franz Krommer, a Bohemian born Frantisek Kramar, was thought to rival that of Beethoven in his own time and has been undergoing a modest revival. His expert writing for winds has enlivened that repertoire. And these three string quartets, two of them never recorded before, are well worth hearing. Although Krommer was apparently disparaged by Beethoven, he understood many of Beethoven's innovations (even if he didn't match Schubert in understanding them and then producing something completely different). These three quartets are full of Beethovenian trademarks, including tight motivic structure in the opening movements, large chromatic excursions, and a distaste for the relaxed Viennese mood. If they lack the emotional heft of Beethoven's middle-period quartets (especially in the finales, which are much more akin to Haydn's), they are superbly crafted and quite distinct in personality from one another. Germany's Marcolini Quartet, which charmingly enough is named for a Belgian chocolate shop, plays period (or period replica) instruments and delivers carefully sculpted readings with excellent balance among the parts. Annotator Rebekka Sandmeier (notes are in German and English) makes the interesting point that Krommer bridged the gap between music for professionals and music for dilettantes. These quartets don't convey the deep waves of social change that Beethoven's do, but they have little charms of their own.